If national statistics hold true, men commit well over 500 rapes against women every year on Boston University campus. Yet according to their federally-required campus safety reports, there are only 28 offenses reported in a four year period from 1997-2000. I wonder why that is.

Maybe it’s because when you file a complaint of rape they find you guilty of sexual assault and alcohol violations and fine you $500. [The Student Underground].

Kristin Roslonski was raped by a fellow student at BU. When she brought the charges before the administration, the Office of Judicial Affairs ignored evidence collected by police and medical examiners. They lied about relocating her rapist and placed him in a South Campus apartment near where she had moved. The Office of Judicial Affairs interrogated Kristin about her dress and sexual history, and watched a tape of Kirstin having oral sex with another student which was made by other students without her knowledge—a felony invasion of privacy.

And then, the man accused of raping her filed retaliatory complaints against her, claiming sexual assault and alcohol violations. When she questioned him in the administrative hearing, he admitted that he would never have brought any charges except in retaliation for the charges she brought against him. Yet the administration buried her complaint (violating federal law by not informing her of the findings in the case), and upheld the retaliatory complaints against her. They suspended her for the semester, fined her $500.00, and sent a letter to her family and her advisor crudely describing her behavior on the night in lurid detail, without mentioning the rape complaint her accuser was facing.

That’s right. A rape survivor was suspended and fined $500.00 for being raped.

How could all this happen? Boston University has a long history of using administrative coercion to suppress sexual assault complaints. In 1992, a male student date raped a female student on campus, but BU officials demanded that the survivor not report the incident to police. Jessica Smithers sued BU after they pressured her not to report or seek treatment after being raped, and then offered her a multimillion-dollar settlement on the condition that she accept a gag order preventing her from ever publicly discussing her charges. The pattern is simple. The administration wants to cover its ass on campus rape. Federal law requires them to report all crimes on campus which come to their attention, and they want to protect their campus’s image. As soon as someone starts causing trouble, they will stop at nothing to take her down and keep her under control.

This is the worst report I have ever heard out of University administration, but sadly it’s only a matter of degree from the kind of stonewalling and ass-covering cosmetic bullshit that goes on on innumerable campuses. The idea is that as long as you keep the report numbers low, people will feel safe on the campus. If you cover it up with enough red tape, people won’t see campus rape.

For further reading:

• Students Active For Eradicating Rape (SAFER) is a student group originating out of Columbia University, fighting for more responsible sexual assault policies on campuses nation-wide
• GT 10/25/2001 Cops refuse to adequately investigate rape in Austin
• GT 11/28/2001 Alabama Church Didn’t Investigate Charges of Misconduct, Pastor Sexually Exploits 14-Year-Old Girl
• GT 4/19/2001 Some EAMC Doctors Refuse to Give Emergency Contraception to Rape Survivors
• GT 9/24/2001 The Rape Blog documents pervasive terrorism against women