A fellow student, an innocent woman, was victimized and raped in the attic while everyone was partying downstairs. Any one of those party-goers could have been a little more alert, a little more aware of the interactions between fellow students. But in reality, everyone was drunk or involved in their own little social circles, and the woman's friends, if she had any with her, were neither paying attention or particularly watching out for one another. While such stories as these are told year after year to incoming freshmen and while programs on campus strive to educate the University population about sexual violence, these horrors still occur. We still haven't learned our lesson, and women and men are still becoming rape victims.
Rape is a crime of domination, humiliation and power.
These survivor's lives and futures have been upended and crushed, never to be the same again. Avoid that experience. Guard your body and your mind, and watch out for yourself and your friends. Samantha Pace's column appears every other Monday.