Sexual Assault At Fordham: Moving Forward From The False Report

On Sunday, September 27th, Fordham Public Safety released a security alert stating that a female Fordham student had been sexually assaulted by two unidentified males as she was leaving Walsh Hall and walking towards her off-campus apartment.  The description of the attack implied that the student had narrowly avoided being raped and revealed that the perpetrators had not been identified.

 

On Wednesday, September 30, Public Safety, as well as several local news outlets, released an official statement that the young woman admitted she had lied about the attack, so Fordham and the NYPD closed their respective investigations.

 

The initial security alert sent a shock through the Fordham student body, especially the female population.  The report seemed to validate virtually every woman’s worst fear: being attacked at random by a stranger in a dark alley.  Whether the fear is innate or learned, for many women, it is there.  To this, some might maintain that walking alone, especially at night, can be scary for anybody.  This is a completely valid response; however, women are especially vulnerable in these types of situations, or at least they have been made to feel that way. For instance, when I was learning to drive a car, my father had me drive him to the local grocery store while it was dark out.  We live in a nice suburb, and the shopping center is along a major street with a well-lit parking lot.  As we were leaving the store, he made a point to tell me what to do if I ever felt unsafe when I was driving alone and shopping somewhere.  He told me to park as close as I could to the entrance in the most well-lit spot.  He told me that if I walk out of the store at night, and there aren’t very many people in the parking lot, to walk right back in and ask for assistance with carrying my bags to the car.  My younger brothers, recently learning to drive themselves, have never received this talk.  This was no fault of my father’s; he recognized the unfortunate reality that as I grew up, I might find myself in a situation where I feel uncomfortable simply carrying groceries to my car.  When I thought a fellow female Fordham student had been sexually assaulted, I was immediately reminded of this conversation and terrified that these fears my father had for me and I have for myself could be confirmed within my university community. 

 

When the news broke that the Fordham student had lied about the sexual assault, it sparked a worrying dialogue that delegitimized the experience of all women, and more importantly, actual sexual assault survivors.  Some students posed the understandable question, “How could somebody lie about something so awful?”  This was fueled by the various news reports which maintain the student had lied because she had a fight with her friend.  It seemed an appropriate reaction to ask as much, given the gravity of the subject, but there were also some responses that warrant concern.  Such responses asserted that a false report was not surprising because false reporting is relatively common, especially among college-aged women. In light of recent events, such as the Rolling Stone UVA scandal, there has been a shift in the dialogue surrounding college sexual assault, perpetuating the notion that false reporting is the norm.  The stories about false reports seem to dominate the news cycle far more than the news of actual reports, effectively belittling the experience of sexual assault victims.  In the aftermath of an event like this, it is important to know the facts about sexual assault reporting.  

 

To assume that false reporting of sexual assault is common among college-aged women hinders the progress of the movement to eliminate sexual assault on campus.  According to a longitudinal study performed by the Department of Justice between 1995 and 2013, “Women 18-24 who are enrolled in college are 3 times more likely than women in general to suffer from sexual violence.” Additionally, only 20% of the sexual assault survivors in that category ultimately report their attack.  These statistics indicate two important things. First, women are more likely to be sexually assaulted at college, a place where they are forging new relationships, developing skills for future careers, and discovering themselves.  It is also worth noting that a majority of sexual assault victims are assaulted by a friend or acquaintance, even though the idea of rape often returns to the image of the “stranger in a dark alley.”  Second, sexual assault on campus, and in general, is severely underreported.  The dialogue around campus sexual assault should focus on these truths, rather than a single false report.  

 

The false sexual assault report from a Fordham student last week was an unfortunate, confusing act that left many students questioning why somebody would fabricate a story of such a heinous crime.  In the wake of this event, however, it is important to maintain a dialogue that seeks to raise awareness for campus sexual assault patterns and to create a safe space in which legitimate sexual assault cases might be more highly reported.  Dismissing this instance as another example of a college woman falsely accusing someone of sexual assault does a great disservice to victims who are afraid to report because they are ashamed or fear ridicule.  Furthermore, remarks that present false reports as the norm often further the idea that if a woman reports a sexual assault in college, she probably just got too drunk and regretted a sexual encounter. Unfortunately, these sentiments have echoed throughout the student body since the false report occurred.  Moving forward, Fordham students should aim to stop the victim-shaming practice of assuming false reports constitute a majority of campus sexual assault reports, and instead work to foster an open discussion on preventing sexual assault.