Coping with Sexual Assault
A Resource Guide for Survivors and Friends
This is an expanded, online version of the brochure printed each August in cooperation with the Committee on Sexual Assault (COSA), Student Health Services, and the Office of Judicial Programs. You might also want to consider using the Anonymous Report Form.
Washington University is dedicated to creating a respectful learning community, free from any form of sexual assault or harassment. Unfortunately, sexual assault is a reality on any college campus—affecting all members of the university community. We must be responsible for one another and ready to offer our best support and information when circumstances demand it.
This information is intended to assist survivors of sexual assault, both female and male, and the friends who support survivors. The campus resources for sexual assault prevention and survivor support are available to all members of the University community.
What to Do
These are important steps you should follow to the extent possible after a rape or sexual assault.
Leave the scene as is, get to a safe place immediately, and contact a friend who can support you through the following steps:
- Get medical attention right away*. Even if you do not want to report the event to the police, you may have injuries, sexually transmitted diseases, or a pregnancy that requires medical care.
- Bring a change of clothes to the hospital because those worn during the assault may be collected as evidence.
- Print your WU Student Health Insurance Plan card from the SHS Web site and bring it along with your driver's license.
- Do not drink, eat, shower, douche, wash your hands, comb your hair, brush your teeth, or change your clothes. Such activities destroy physical evidence which could be useful in possible prosecution of the alleged perpetrator.
- Consider contacting the Sexual Assault Response Team, a Crisis Counselor, or one of the other campus or community resources listed below.
- Consider contacting the Washington University Police Department (WUPD) at 935-5555 or the police in the area in which the assault took place (911). If you wish, the police may meet you at the hospital.
- When you get a quiet moment, record everything that you remember. This may help you through your own healing process, as well as with any legal action you may decide to take.
*The importance of seeking medical attention cannot be overstated. You have the ability to regain a greater sense of safety, control and empowerment by seeking immediate medical attention. Though the WU Student Health Services will support and act as a resource for any student, the most comprehensive, complete medical care, including emergency contraception (a way to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex), is available at these hospital emergency rooms:
Hospital Emergency Rooms (ER)
1. St. Mary’s Health Center 768-8360
2. Barnes/Jewish Hospital (affiliated with WU) 362-9123
3. Missouri Baptist Hospital 996-5225
4. St. John’s Mercy Medical Center 569-6090
5. St. Louis University Hospital 577-7777
Emergency contraception (EC) is available without a prescription at the emergency rooms listed here. Should EC not be readily offered as part of the protocol, you may ask for it. For detailed information on EC, including how to obtain it at Student Health Services (SHS) and local pharmacies, visit the SHS Web site.
Support on Campus
Immediately following the assault, and later when you may find you need ongoing support and counseling, people on campus are ready to help. Whether you live off or on campus, you may call anyone at the University with whom you feel safe and comfortable. Do not go through this experience alone.
Sexual Assault Response Team (SART)
WU has made special arrangements with SART, the YWCA’s on-call Sexual Assault Response Team, to provide confidential assistance and support to the WU community. A staff member from Washington University Police Department (WUPD) or Student Health Services can contact SART for you (see phone numbers below). A SART volunteer can come to campus to meet you if you like. If you prefer to meet a volunteer at the hospital, know that the volunteers serve the hospitals listed above and are available for you whether or not you request assistance.
Washington University Police Department (WUPD)
Call WUPD to contact a Women’s Crisis Counselor or SART and/or to make a report. 935-5555
Committed to Assisting Survivors of Sexual Assault, WUPD is a 24-hour, 12-month resource
Women’s Crisis Counselors (staff members trained to provide immediate support and assist with access to services and information for survivors, their families, and friends)
Karen Levin Coburn - Asst Vice Chancellor 935-5040
Lisa Sinden-Gottfried - Counselor 935-6695
After hours, contact through Washington University Police Department (WUPD) 935-5555
Student Health Services
Mental Health Services 935-6695
Medical Services 935-6666
Health Promotion Services 935-7139
After hours 935-6666
Residential Life
RAs, RCDs, and other Residential Life staff members are available for undergraduate students who live
on campus or in WU apartments. 935-5050
Judicial Administrator
Tamara King 935-4174
Student-to-Student Counseling (available during fall and spring semesters, not during breaks)
Sexual Assault and Rape Anonymous Helpline (SARAH) 935-8080
Uncle Joe’s Peer Counseling and Resource Center 935-5099
Support in the St. Louis Community
YWCA Rape Crisis Hotline 531-7273
Women's Support and Community Services 531-2003
Crime Victims' Advocacy Center 652-3623
Hospitals in the St. Louis Community (See ER list above).
Filing a Report
Washington University encourages you to file a police report about the incident. By providing the WUPD with information, you may be able to prevent future assaults against yourself or others. Even if you report the assault, it is your choice whether or not to seek criminal prosecution.
If you chose not to file a report with the police, the University strongly encourages you to file an anonymous and confidential report form, through the Committee on Sexual Assault, to assure that the incident is known to University officials who are concerned about your safety. The report forms are available at Student Health Services, the Office of Student Activities, the Office of Judicial Programs, Residential Life, and the Washington University Police Department (WUPD) office. The forms are also available online.
The University has a judicial hearing process for incidents of sexual misconduct. Details of this process can be discussed confidentially with Tamara King, Judicial Administrator, at 935-4174. Speaking with the Judicial Administrator does not mean that you must file judicial or criminal charges.
How to Help a Friend
- Listen and be supportive. Your friend may reveal some graphic information. It is important not to overreact. Believe your friend and let your friend know you do. People rarely lie about rape or sexual assault.
- Give your friend the chance to talk about the experience and her or his feelings. Be thoughtful in your responses. Questions about your friend’s actions or judgment statements can further blame the survivor and add to the sense of guilt or shame.
- Communicate to your friend that any feelings she or he may have are normal and understandable. Supporting a friend means validating her or his feelings and emotions.
- Show interest, but do not pry or ask for specific details which may make the survivor relive the experience. Allow your friend to be silent. You do not have to speak when she or he stops talking.
- Avoid making decisions for the survivor . Instead, listen and then ask how you can help.
- Help your friend regain some sense of control. Support your friend in making decisions about whom to tell and how to proceed.
- Do not touch or hug your friend without permission.
- Recognize your own limitations. No one expects you to be an expert in counseling or sexual assault; therefore, avoid making strong recommendations to the survivor.
- Realize that as a friend you may need counseling to cope with the events your friend may have shared with you.
WU Judicial Code
Washington University Offenses Section of the University Judicial Code clearly prohibits the following conduct and states that students engaging in such conduct are subject to disciplinary action.
"Sexual contact with any member of the University community or visitor to the University without that person's consent, including, but not limited to rape and other forms of sexual assault. Conduct will be considered ‘without consent’ if no clear consent, verbal or nonverbal is given; if inflicted through force, threat of force, or coercion; or if inflicted upon a person who is unconscious or who otherwise reasonably appears to be without the mental or physical capacity to consent. For example, sexual contact with a person who reasonably appears to be impaired in the exercise of their judgment by alcohol or other drugs may be considered ‘without consent’."
Definitions
Missouri State Law and the WU Judicial Code use differing definitions for some terms.
Under Missouri law, “rape” and “forcible sodomy” are crimes of genital or anal penetration, committed by use of force and without consent. Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 566.030, .060. “Sexual assault” and “deviate sexual assault” are similar crimes, but need not involve force. Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 566.040, .070. “Sexual abuse” is defined as sexual contact by the use of forcible compulsion. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 566.100. Whether committed by a stranger, friend, or date, these sex crimes are criminal offenses subject to prosecution under the law. We refer to all of these acts as sexual assault. While some Missouri statutes are gender- or body-part-specific, both men and women can be perpetrators or victims of various forms of sexual assault. These acts, and others, are also violations of the University Judicial Code’s prohibition on sexual contact without consent.
Acquaintance rape , or date rape, is commonly understood as a sexual assault in which the survivor (male or female) and the perpetrator (male or female) know each other. The perpetrator may be a casual acquaintance, friend, or a steady dating partner. Acquaintance rape is punishable by law -- and under the Judicial Code -- to the same degree as stranger rape.
Date rape drugs can be used in cases of sexual assault and rape to quickly sedate victims and render them incapable of defending themselves. Alcohol is the most prevalent date rape drug, on the WU campus and nation-wide. If you think you have been drugged, time is of the essence. Seek a drug test at a hospital immediately.
Rights of a Survivor
- You have the right to receive medical care and mental health treatment or participate in legal procedures only after giving informed consent.
- You have the right not to be asked questions about prior sexual experiences.
- You have the right to keep your name from the media.
- You have the right to be protected against future assaults.
- You have the right not to report to the police.
- You have the right to as much credibility as a victim of any other crime.
- You have the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
Remember:
No one asks to be sexually assaulted.
It makes no difference how a person looks, where the person is, or what the person is wearing.
Sexual assault is never the fault of the survivor.
