Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990 TAG: 9003222756
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER
SOURCE: Neal Thompson
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
At Radford University this year, two students reported to police that they had been raped. Again, one lived on campus and one off.
These are the most sexual attacks that have been reported at either school in several years. But for every rape that is reported, many more go unreported, school officials and police say.
A nationally accepted figure is that only about 10 percent of rape victims ever report the crime.
Last year, no rapes were reported at either Radford or Tech. In 1988, Radford had no reports of forcible rape and Tech had three, according to state police records.
But despite the low number reported, 60 women - about half from Tech and half from Radford - received counseling from the Rape Crisis Program at the New River Valley Women's Resource Center in the last school year.
And in nearly all those cases, the women said they had been raped by someone they knew.
Since September, 13 Radford students and five Tech students have sought counseling in the program, said Colleen Mathias, rape crisis coordinator.
"But for every one that I see, God knows how many others aren't reported" to either the crisis center or the police, she said.
Most of the attacks that are not reported to police are instances of date rape or acquaintance rape.
"We prefer to call it acquaintance rape," Mathias said. "Date rape sounds too cute. It's deceiving. And most times it's not happening on a date."
But whatever you call it, she said, it's rape when a woman is forced to have sex against her will.
And in most cases, rape by a friend or acquaintance is more humiliating than rape by a stranger, Mathias said. That may be one of the reasons women don't report it.
Police and university officials say they are trying to make it easier for women to report a rape.
Radford police have a 24-hour hotline for crime victims to call with anonymous information if they don't want to press charges. The number is 731-3627.
The Women's Resource Center has a rape-crisis hot line staffed 24 hours a day. Callers are offered counseling,legal advice, advice on whether and where to get medical attention and whether to notify police. If they just need a companion, the center provides that, too, all free of charge. The number is 639-1123.
At Virginia Tech, students who have been raped can report it three ways: directly to the police, to the university's judicial board or by filling out an anonymous "Third Party Report Form." The form can also be filled out by a friend.
But the problem with the third-party form is that Tech can take no action against the accused rapist, Dean of Students Beverly Sgro said.
"There's no further investigation. It's just for the record," Leigh Collins of the Tech police said.
If the student decides to report the crime to the judicial board, the charge is not rape but "abusive action." A confidential hearing then determines whether the accused person should be warned, suspended from school or expelled, Sgro said.
Few New River Valley rape suspects have ever been brought to justice, Mathias said, mainly because victims don't want to go through the process and because a trial can be a painful experience for a victim.
"We can't tell them what to do," she said. "But we'd love to see everything reported to the police."
Memo: part 1 of 3