Last year in my Women Studies class we were studying “Victim Blaming” which relates to the way that females are put to blame after they are sexually assaulted. Strategies of victim blaming include statements like saying the girl was leading on the perpetrator by acts of flirting or wearing revealing clothing, saying the girl should never have been that intoxicated to the point where she did not know what was happening, saying the girl should have never talked to or trusted a boy she did not know, saying the girl should have specifically said “No”, and saying that the girl should not have been in that area or out that late at night. While these are just a few examples of victim blaming, there are so many other ways that people blame the victim after sexual assault.
After studying this concept, my women studies teacher brought about an issue that was coincidentally occurring at the same time. It was regarding threats of sexual assault and harm that was happening on UConn’s own campus. UConn had just changed their mascot to a more realistic and fierce looking husky. While students were adjusting to this image, after having a happy, friendlier looking husky for many years, a student, Carolyn Luby sent an open letter to UConn’s president, Susan Herbst, giving her own opinion on the new mascot. She wrote about how the logo was very intimidating and aggressive and she felt that it encouraged students on campus to be more vicious in an “already prevalent rape culture.”
Somehow this open letter leaked onto Barstool Sports and commenters were threatening Luby saying things like, “She now deserves to be raped after assuming a more aggressive logo encourages rape” or “She should have ran in the Boston Marathon”. Luby even felt uncomfortable on her own campus as Frat boys would pull up in their cars next to her as she walked to class saying, “Don’t worry, we won’t rape you” and other students were calling her a “bitch” for assuming the worst of her own school mascot. While all of this was going on, Luby went to both the UConn police and President Herbst alerting them of these threats and the issue, both in which no action was taken besides UConn administration telling Luby “that is the consequence of posting something on the internet” and “Maybe you should wear a hat so people won’t recognize you”.
Flash forward to the present, and seven current and former students of UConn are taking action against UConn’s lack of prevention from further issues with sexual assault. Attorney Gloria Allred is representing these students with their complaint. Each of these girls had been abused or assaulted in one way or another while attending UConn. Following all of their tragic events the charges were either dismissed or not taken to the extent that they should have been.
Another example would be Kylie Angell’s fight for justice after being assaulted by a male student in a residence hall back in 2010. After the male was found guilty of the sexual assault, he was also found guilty on counts of possession of drugs, breaking and entering and giving alcohol to a minor. While Angell found some sort of satisfaction from his charge, the whole issue was brought to a higher level when the male student granted an appeal for his actions and was allowed back to university. Angell was not alerted that the perpetrator was back to school and did not find out until he came up to her in the dining hall. Angell directly left the dining hall to complain to the university and they attempted to comfort her by saying she and her perpetrator would never be in the same buildings at the same time according to their class schedules, so everything would be okay. After Angell did not see any justice in that, she reported the perpetrator’s return on campus to the UConn police. Their response to her was “women need to stop spreading their legs like peanut butter or rape is going to keep on happening ‘til the cows come home.”
Other present and past students joined in on this investigation claiming that their complaints to UConn authorities after being assaulted were dismissed due to lack of information. Another girl who was assaulted on UConn’s campus was unconscious at the time of being attacked and authorities confronted her saying if she did not want to engage in that sort of activity she should have said “No”.
In reaction to this investigation UConn has released this statement after the filed complaint: “The University of Connecticut takes allegations of this nature extremely seriously, as the health and well-being of our students is a top priority. Our response protocol for these and other alleged incidents of sexual assault is in line with or exceeds best practices. We always must be mindful of the rights of the accused and the accuser while upholding our commitment to protecting the safety of our campus community.”