University Of The Pacific Claims That Date Rape Isn't "Outright Rape"

In May 2008, a female basketball player at the University of the Pacific claimed that she was raped by three male basketball players at a party. The University’s officials, however, don’t consider it “outright rape.”

“We would consider it date rape,” says University spokesman Richard Rojo, noting that he believes that “outright rape” only involves “a rapist jumping out of bushes and attacking people randomly.” It only gets worse from there: Rojo, who admits that the incident was, indeed, sexual assault, downplays the woman’s rape as “a social situation and unfortunately an all-too common problem at universities.”

Jane Doe, the victim in this case, is currently suing the University for their horrendous response for the situation, which included a great deal of victim-blaming and shaming: in the University reports on the incident, Doe was described as engaging in “a lot of ‘sleazy behavior’,” and had reportedly made comments like, “Who is going to get laid tonight?” Guess what, University of the Pacific? THAT’S NOT A FREE TICKET FOR ANYONE TO HAVE SEX WITH HER AGAINST HER WILL.

It gets even worse: Doe claims that Pacific Vice President of Student Life Elizabeth Griego took the men’s side on the issue, accusing Doe of causing the incident and noting that the men involved “are very popular and do not need to force anyone to have sex with them.” The school has banned two of Doe’s alleged attackers from campus and expelled one permanently, which shows that they do, in fact, admit that this sexual assault took place. So why do they insist upon continuing to blame Doe and “lessen” the crime by pointing out all of your typical “she was asking for it” bullshit? What message does that give to other women on campus who might be faced with the same horrific situation?

“Pacific believes that education happens as much outside the classroom as within,” claims the school’s website. It’s too bad that the school itself has so very much to learn.

UOP Responds To Sexual Assault [RecordNet]