BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN
As a former police officer specializing in sexual assault, Larry Denomme has investigated many horrific crimes.
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Alcohol and drugs play a large part in the number of rapes each year on post-secondary campuses. |
Unfortunately, sexual assault is something he still hears about all too often in his second career. Denomee, who has been Laurentian University?s director of security since he retired as a police officer in 1993, says sex crimes are a problem on college and university campuses.
The man wants students who have recently returned to Sudbury campuses to realize they are at risk of becoming victims of sexual assault, which is defined in Canada?s criminal code as any form of forced sexual activity.
According to the Sudbury Sexual Assault Crisis Centre, most sexual assaults on campus occur in the first eight weeks of class.
One of the most common types of sexual assault among young people is called ?date rape? - or being assaulted by someone known to the victim as a friend or acquaintance.
And if you don?t think you?re at risk of sexual assault, think again. At least one in four women will be sexually assaulted at some time in her life. Although equally serious, a very small percentage of sexual assault victims are men.
Statistics show that nearly all sexual assaults are committed by men against women and girls.
Sexual assault is pervasive on campuses because young people often drink excessively when they leave their parents? homes for the first time, says Denomee. Drinking reduces people?s inhibitions and leaves them more vulnerable to commit or become victims of sexual assault, he says.
?Two students could meet at the pub, and whatever happens behind closed doors is out of our control. The best prevention for that is for people to be informed before they get in the position of having non-consensual sexual activity take place,? says the director of security.
That?s why LU has taken steps to prevent sexual assault on campus. Back in 1994, Denomee spearheaded the production of a film about date rape called It?s Criminal You Know.
The film is regularly shown to students living in residence. During orientation week, all Laurentian students are expected to attend the play Frosh, which, among other things, deals with the issue of sexual assault.
The university also discourages binge drinking by closing the pub during the first two weeks of school, and by banning drinking games through its anti-hazing policy.
Denomee admits drinking is a problem in residence, although in theory, students are not allowed to be intoxicated within residence walls.
Residence life at LU or any post-secondary institution can potentially be risky for students, says Students? General Association president Luke
Norton. He?s never lived in residence himself, but has heard plenty from other students.
?Date rape is always a big one. I think that there?s a lot more that happens that doesn?t get reported because people know each other or if it?s in rez and it?s someone on their floor, they don?t want to bring it up,? he says.
?Maybe they also don?t know that it was specifically sexual assault.?
Date rape drugs are an added danger for students, says Sudbury Sexual Assault Crisis Centre executive director Lynn O?Farrell.
Rohypnol and GHB are two types of drugs that sexual predators use by slipping them into drinks. They are colourless, odourless and tasteless.
Date rape drug victims become much more intoxicated than they should be for the amount of alcohol they have consumed, leaving them vulnerable to
attack.
?I often say to women ?Don?t drink out of punch bowls, make sure that you?re watching as the bartender pours your drink, and never leave your drink unattended.? So, you?re there when the sequence of events unfolds,? she says.
Young people have got to realize that being pressured into having sex is not OK, says O?Farrell. In other words, ?No means no.?
If the worst happens and a student is sexually assaulted, O?Farrell encourages them to contact the sexual assault centre or someone they trust. She helps women to lay charges against their attackers if they wish to do so, but doesn?t pressure them either way.
?They don?t have to lay charges, but if they think that might be a possibility, then they might want to do a sexual assault kit, which is kept for six months after an assault. That gives the woman an option to decide. If she does decide to lay charges, then they?ll use that as physical evidence,? says O?Farrell.
The Sudbury Sexual Assault Crisis Centre?s 24-hour crisis line can be reached at 675-1323.
