Too Busy to Care?

IF YOU ARE a Radcliffe student, you have a one-in-eight chance of being raped during your four years at Harvard. The rapist would most likely be someone you know.

Several independent studies have confirmed these conclusions of a Kent State study on the frequency of date rapes. A survey of 500 Brown students, for example, revealed that 16 percent of women students had been raped by men they were dating.

Although the incidence of date rape is high, few woman--about 4 percent--report the attack. They know that the chances of convicting a date rapist are slim, and that in order to prosecute they will have to undergo grueling cross-examination by police and lawyers.

Many women who remain silent blame themselves. They feel that they are partially responsible because of failure to exercise good judgment. Many date rape victims fear that their friends and family will not believe that a rape has even occurred. As a result, 90 percent of date rape victims never tell another person about the assault.

In the past, unaware of its frequency, colleges did not show much concern about date rape. That has changed as some women have chosen to talk about their experience and their accounts have shocked campuses. Their efforts--as well as recent studies and increased media attention--have convinced many colleges to confront the problem.

Many colleges have tried to emphasize challenging people's attitudes about rape as well as suggesting precautions for women. This approach stems from a realization that myths--such as that women want to be raped and that women say "no" when they mean "yes"--have fostered a culture in which date rape can seem acceptable.

Consequently, Ohio State runs a series of programs focusing on beliefs about rape. Stanford requires incoming freshmen to hear a seminar outlining usual circumstances of date rape. Auburn financed a videotape "It Still Hurts" which reenacts a campus party where a date rape might occur. Swarthmore ran a large workshop on rape in the fall of 1984 resulting in a student-produced videotape. And Cornell runs encounter groups in which students discuss date pressures.

HARVARD, BY CONTRAST, has failed to make its students aware of the frequency of date rape or to provoke examination of the problem. On the last page of a University Health Service pamphlet on rape, students are urged to "work to reform your own and other's attitudes about rape, to work to end misconceptions." But when students--or student groups like Response, which runs what are unfortunately sparsely-attended workshops on date rape--try To do this, the University does not offer adequate support.

Only about half of freshmen proctors accept the offer to hold a Response workshop. Proctors argue that date rape is not an essential issue, that the subject is too disturbing, and even that it would be too depressing a study break. Apparently, it is not just the attitudes and misconceptions of students that need to be changed.

Unlike other colleges, Harvard has never published a study on the number of its students who have been raped on campus. Clearly there is an awareness problem that the University could help to address. What is needed, at the very least, are mandatory workshops held during freshman week so that every student will be exposed to the issue immediately.

Many colleges began ambitious programs about date rape only after serious instances became public. Strong student reaction pressured the adminstrations to do something. Harvard does not have to wait for such an event to occur.