On Wednesday, February 8th Anti-Racist Action members descended upon the Daily Kent Stater office and the Kent State Police Department. The cause: six sentences within the DKS on February 7th. It did not start here, however, the problem that we were confronting has existed for quite some time. These six sentences were about an alleged rape and an alleged sexual imposition that both occurred on January 31st on the Kent State campus. These two blurbs spurred Anti-Racist Action to action for two reasons: (1) the irresponsible manner in which the articles were presented and (2) our concern with police mishandling the cases and reinforcing rape myths to both the survivors of sexual assault and the wider community. We did/do not wish to focus on these two cases, however, because the problem did not start with these two articles.

The article that was printed on the front page of the DKS on February 8th leads ARA to question the process that the paper uses to handle press coverage of sexual assault. This is for a number of reasons which include that the article was too short to handle such a serious issue in a responsible manner, the content of the article dangerously reinforced rape myths, and that the paper did not take the opportunity to aid other or future sexual assault survivors. We are seeking a response from the DKS to these issues. The article has the dangerous potential to reinforce the idea that women often report sexual assaults without foundation or reason. It also reinforces the idea that if a woman is intoxicated, she gives up any right to demand accountability from her attacker. The article states that that woman was intoxicated, “and that her consumption of alcohol probably played a role in her allegation.” For the majority of the campus that only has the facts from this article, these terrible ideas could easily be communicated.

Anti-Racist Action is also concerned about the handling of sexual assault cases by the police departments. The article from the February 8th DKS was not the first one to quote an insensitive remark by a Kent police officer in regards to sexual assault. These sorts of quotes have the great potential to stop women from reporting because they will receive a belittling or condescending attitude, devoid of sympathy from the police (such as when KSU Chief Peach was quoted as saying “what she thinks happened, did not happen.”) It is already difficult for women to tell others about what occurred to them. Why would a woman wish to go through more rough treatment?

ARA is continuing to work on the issue of sexual assault on this campus. We are focusing on the DKS and the Kent police departments although there is more to the problem of sexual assault in this country. If you wish to get involved with this issue, please contact ARA (672-3767) or Women’s Movement Network (672-5156).