(These letters are responses to "Frat sexual assault charge dropped," which ran in Tuesday's paper.)
What about him?
I am outraged at the people who are intent on blaming ONLY the male in the recent sexual assault cases. It's true that I wasn't there, and I don't know what happened, but I've been around intoxicated people enough to know certain things. It's very difficult to convince a drunk person that they are not acting in their own best interest, for all we know, she told her friends that this is what she wanted, and she told her prospective partner that this is what she wanted, and she wasn't going to take "No" for an answer. We don't know how drunk the man was. What if he was too drunk to consent, and was taken advantage of by this woman? In my opinion, if you are too drunk to consent, too drunk to know what you are doing, then you are too drunk to still be in the frat house. Your Designated Driver should have taken you home several drinks ago. Women would also be kind to remember that a sex-related conviction is a LIFE TIME SENTENCE! For the rest of the poor boy's life he has to suffer, because you made a bad decision and regretted it. Perhaps they should give women the same advice about drinking that they give men about fatherhood: If you don't want the kid, don't have sex. If you don't want sex, don't get blitzed at a frat party, or if you do, protect yourself by having a sober friend you can rely on to make decisions for you — and listen to that friend when they say it's time to go!
Kenneth Anthony
Citizen
Alcohol + Sex = Assault
How come every time alcohol is involved the situation becomes vague as to whether or not consent was given? Well, maybe it's because whenever alcohol is involved, no one can give consent. It should be clear already that consent cannot and should not be given under any circumstance where a person is intoxicated. By definition, consent is a "conscious, sober, non-coerced, verbal response to any and each act of sex". If any one of the things mentioned are absent, there is no way consent can be given. How can consent occur if it is not in the definition above? All of the mentioned things must all be present for consent to take place. Now, back to the case of alcohol being involved, can one really say that the person possessed all of the necessary factors to give or obtain consent? Now look closely as I said, "give or obtain". Giving consent and getting consent from someone must be the same thing. Both participants need to abide by that definition and hopefully these matters will become clear as these situations will always be gray due to the circumstances. Try and eliminate the gray then and get a clearer picture before anything like this can occur again in the future. I want to thank undergraduate Benjamin Allen for stepping forward and writing that wonderful letter to the editor on Tuesday in which he explains my point in more detail and is involved in the Greek community as well. When matters such as these happen, it truly is a disappointment on everyone's behalf when the community fails.
Also, as far as groups on campus that help to educate and aware students about rape and violence everywhere is SERVE (Students Educating Rape & Violence Everywhere). They meet every other Thursday at Manzanita Residence Hall. Their contact email is: SERVEasu@hotmail.com. This active group educates students by showing films and holding discussion sessions, plans and conducts events on and off-campus help raise awareness about these issues and to educate the community on it affects everyone, whether you're involved in it or not.
Also, the Home Safe, ASU's Violence Prevention and Advocacy Center is teaming up with U of A and NAU to bring together a 1st ever Sexual Violence Prevention Summit to break the silence surrounding sexual violence, at ASU West this Saturday, Oct. 6 th, from 10am-4pm. If you need transportation to ASU West for the Saturday summit, please meet outside of Manzy promptly at 8:30am for a bus to take students and the community over to ASU West and back. Interested? Please check it out and hopefully my letter will make a lot more sense after you attend…
Nicole Bruno
Undergraduate