A panel of experts met with University students thursday night to discuss and answer questions about sexual assault and the effects of illegal drugs.
“This is the prefect opportunity to get out and let you guys know what should be done,” said panelist and LSUPD Detective John Anderson.
Other speakers included Department of Health Kathleen R. Callaghan, Rape Crisis Center medical director Randall Brown, section chief of sex crimes division and assistant district attorney Sue Bernie, assistant district attorney and operation of club drug coordinator Mark Dumaine and Wellness education coordinator Kathy Saichuck.
Student Government, Phi Kappa Psi, Phi Mu and the Wellness Center hosted the forum.
Daniel M. Cook, president of Phi Kappa Psi said the idea for the forum came at the end of the spring 2003 semester and was intended to show sororities how fraternity members act outside of a social setting. As more groups joined Phi Kappa Psi, the forum expanded to include a larger portion of the campus.
The panelist said students must become more aware of their own safety and the safety of their friends.
Saichuck said students also should focus on their safety when they are at home in order to prevent becoming victims of sexual assault.
She said students need to learn to be smarter about the decisions they make when in residential halls and running along the University lakes.
Saichuck said the recent home invasions by Steve Danos-the man accused of breaking into apartments in September- should re-enforce ideas about home safety.
Students should lock their doors and windows, she said. Also, students in resident halls should not prop doors open or allow an unfamiliar person to follow them into their resident hall.
Callaghan, who admitted to being attack twice, said women should be more alert of their surrounding.
“You can’t hear someone behind you if you have earphones on,” she said.
She said she has witnessed women running around the University lakes wearing headphones.
Students should not only focus on home safety, but they must also be aware of their safety outside of their home, Brown said.
He said students who go to clubs, should go with a group of friends to ensure that they remain safe.
“One of the key ways to protect yourself, is that you and your best friends always have a code word,” he said. “That word says ‘something’s wrong, something’s terribly wrong, you need to get me out of this scenario.”
Male and female students should be cautious about the events around them, Bernie said. It only takes a split second for someone to slip perdatorial drugs into another persons’ drink.
Gamma hydroxybutyrate or GHB, is one of the better known club drugs used to subdue victims for sexual assault Dumaine said. It is odorless, colorless and tasteless. It also can be mistaken for water.
Sexual assault victims under the influence of the drug may appear sluggish and incoherent, Brown said. People under the influence of GHB are not in any shape to take care of themselves, and often experience a loss of memory. Friends should intervene and get medical help for the friend.
“It’s when you don’t intervene , that’s when [assaults] occur,” Brown said.
Saichuck said people who feel that they have been raped wirh the drug should seek immediate medical attention.
GHB and many other club drugs, such as ecstasy, can cause death.
Anderson said females who suspect that they have become the victim of sexual assault should immediately report the assault to the police or to the Rape Crisis Center.
Despite many myths, most victims of sexual assault were raped by acquaintances, Bernie said.
“Stranger rapes are far less common than acquaintance rapes,” Bernie said.
Bernie said the actual number of sexual assaults is unknown because many women do not report them.
She said 1 in 4 college-aged women have either been the victim of a sexual assault or an attempted sexual assault by the time they were 14 years old.
Family and friends who know sexual assault victims should encourage the victim to report it to the police.
“Don’t blame the victim,” Bernie said.
There are currently 6 known cases of on campus rape reported.