Editor,
I just read the article cited in President Frank’s Weekly Perspective – 4.25.2016, “Justice Department Releases Findings of UNM’s Response to Sexual Assaults On Campus,” and noted what President Frank said with some dismay: that UNM faces the “impossible goal” of stopping sexual assaults because, in part, they frequently occur in “incredibly complex situations” and “involve alcohol and drugs.”
It’s just that kind of attitude that perpetuates rape culture in our society. There’s nothing complex about a rape: someone doesn’t consent while the other party doesn’t stop; that’s pretty simple. And to treat a violent act as anything other than an assault on a person’s body is what keeps rape culture alive on a university campus – even if the assault occurs off campus.
The involvement of alcohol or drugs in a sexual assault only serves to compound the crime, not make the crime “complex.” Again, President Frank misses the point of how to create a safe climate where students are encouraged to come forward and report a crime. Whether or not alcohol or drugs was involved in the crime, a crime still occurred. The report should be taken seriously and the issue of alcohol or drug use laid aside. People are still responsible for their behavior whether or not the victim was intoxicated – and especially if the perpetrator was.
Rape culture appears to be deeply ingrained even in President Frank’s mind because he’s missing the point of the DOJ findings to make a statement about how hard the university’s job is adjudicating a very straight forward crime: sexual assault. If the man at the helm thinks drugs or alcohol make the victim’s claims less credible or that rape is “complex,” then this university is eons away from being the sort of enlightened institution a flagship university is supposed to be. It begins at the top, and his words, his attitudes, and his responses to the DOJ investigation are setting a tone that women have faced for centuries that only perpetuates rape on our campus and in our society.
Cat Hubka
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of English
MFA Candidate, Creative Writing Program
