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s • A n g e 1 e s
LOYOLAN
VOL. 71 • NO. 6 LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY September 29, 1993
Sexual Assault Reports Now Mandatory
Federal Laws Designed
to Help Student Victims
By Lynn Segas
News Editor
И
woman is raped or sexually
assaulted every six minutes,
yet last year no rapes were re¬
ported on the Loyola Marymount
University campus. Jim Johnson,
Assistant to the Vice President of
Student Affairs, commented on the
issue, "We are trying to organize
and fund greater education in this
area."
"There is education on this cam¬
pus, which puts us ahead of other
college campuses, but there is al¬
ways more that you can do," he
elaborated.
"I gave a workshop at orientation,
housing provides in-service train¬
ing about sexual assault and the
Greeks, through their pledge edu¬
cation program, do training to raise
the awareness level of their chap¬
ters," he explained.
Frances Young, President,
ASLMU, said, "This is a pet issue of
mine. I raise it frequently to increase
awareness. However, there is a
status on women committee, which
produced the sexual assault bro¬
chure. The purpose of the brochure
was to raise awareness in the com¬
munity."
Johnson continued, "It's not that
we live in a perfect envirornment,
it's just that the crimes are not re¬
ported."
He explained, "The University
sexual assault policy was in re¬
sponse to Federal Laws, but also in
response to university concerns."
The federal laws included the Stu¬
dent Right to Know and Campus
Security Act, which was enacted in
November 1 990.
In March, 1993, the American
Council on Education and the Na¬
tional Association of Student Per¬
sonnel Administrators compiled the
following information on Complying
with the New Federal Laws: Sex
Offenses on Campus.
Q: What sex-crime statistics are
now required?
A: The Act requires statistics on
various kinds of crimes, including
sex offenses. Before the Higher
Education Amendment (HE A) was
enacted, “rape” was the only sex
crime for which institutions were
required to compile statistics. Rape
is defined as the carnal knowledge
of a person forcibly and/or against
the person’s will, or not forcibly or
against that person’s will where the
victim is incapable of giving con¬
sent because of his/her temporary
or permanent mental or physical
incapacity; or an attempt to commit
rape by force or threat of force.
LMU Responds to National Statistics
•Women who are raped range in age from two months to 97 years old.
•Nine out of ten rapes are never reported.
•50% of all rapes occur in the victim's home; 30% in public places.
•95% of the victims of acquaintance rape do not report the crime to officials.
•50% of women who are battered are also sexually assaulted.
•According to FBI crime report statistics, the national average for a rape
experience is 4 hours.
•One in 4 girls and 1 in 8 boys are sexually abused before their 18th birthday
•In Orange County, 1 in 4 women will be raped and 1 in 10 men will be a victim
of sexual assault.
Now statistics are required on
“forcible” and “nonforcible” sex of¬
fenses, as defined by the FBI Uni¬
form Crime Reporting Handbook
and as modified, (if at allV by the
Hate Crimes Statistics Act. Statis¬
tics are required if these crimes are
“reported” to “campus security au¬
thority” or local police.
Q: What are “forcible” and
“nonforcible” sex offenses?
A: A forcible sex offenses is “any
sexual act directed against another
person, forcibly and/or against that
person's will; or not forcible or
against the person's will where the
victim is incapable of giving con¬
sent,” and includes forcible rape,
forcible sodomy, sexual assault
with an object, aggravated assault,
and forcible fondling.
Aggravated assault is defined
as an unlawful attack by one per¬
son upon another wherein the of¬
fender uses a weapon or displays
it in a threatening manner, or the
victim suffers obvious severe or
aggravated bodily injury involving
apparent broken bones, loss of
teeth, possible internal injury, se¬
vere lacerations, or loss of con¬
sciousness. Note that an unsuc¬
cessful attempt to commit murder
would be classified as an aggra¬
vated assault.
Nonforcible sex offenses are acts
of “unlawful, nonforcible sexual in¬
tercourse,” and include incest and
statutory rape. Depending on the
circumstances, acquaintance rape
could be in either category.
Q: When is a sex offense consid¬
ered “reported to a campus security
authority”?
A: Exactly when such “reports” oc¬
cur and who is considered a “cam¬
pus security authority” are ques-
continued on page three
LMU Ranked Fifth
'Staying Healthy1 Aims to
Educate LMU Students By Lynn Segas
News Editor
Common Health Concerns
Addressed by New Program
By Damon Garcia
Assistant News Editor
There is no definition or prece¬
dent for establishing student health.
The boundaries for what areas it
covers versus those which are un¬
necessary to its client pool are
vague.
Spearheading a new program in
Student Health Services at Loyola
Marymount is Liz Purtell, Director
of Student Health. The new pro¬
gram, entitled ‘Staying Healthy’ is
the Health Center’s newest project
designed toeducate and inform stu¬
dents on self-care and self-health.
“We can discuss any number of
issues,” Purtell began.
“Perhaps we wanted to discuss
skin care. I don’t think that most
people here on this campus want to
know about brain tumors. What they
really want to know about are things
which relate to everyday living and
what they can do to stay healthy.
The way I see this program is in
things that deal with you in your
everyday life. If you have a cold,
what do you do and how can you
take care of yourself. Do you know
what the number two way of recov¬
ering quickly from a cold? Rest is
the number one way, but many
students would be surprised if I told
you that you could recover in half
the time if you washed your hands
frequently?”
She explained, “If you wash your
hands frequently, you wipe down
the things that you touch frequently.
Every time you blow your nose you
re-contaminate yourself unless
you’ve washed your hands. That’s
what I’m talking about when I dis¬
cuss ‘Staying Healthy.' There are
some things that are just so simple
that people neverthinkaboutthem.”
Purtell was also alarmed at the
student awareness and assump¬
tions regarding the roles of the
Health Center regarding their ser¬
vices. “I was somewhat amused at
the replies in the Loyolan regarding
the treatment of STDs. In my twenty-
five odd years here, there has never
been a question of getting informa¬
tion, teaching classes or getting
treatment of Sexually Transmitted
Diseases. “
She emphasized, ‘Those people
who say that the University isn’t
doing enough should come and
offer their suggestions to me as to
what I can do to help. I think that
there’s an assumption that the
medical office does not keep infor¬
mation like that confidential. I think
that if I were a student, I might have
that concern. We are separate and
apart. We take care of the physical
body, and those who need spiritual
support we would send to Campus
Ministry.”
The program veers from the nor¬
mal medical model of making a
diagnosis and prescribing a treat¬
ment to the patient. Rather, ‘Stay¬
ing Healthy’ strives to educate the
students on the issues they are
interested in and which effect them.
“In a university setting, our pri¬
mary purpose is to teach you. The
problem is that it’s so much easier
to just pop a pill than to do some-
continued on page three
Шоуо1а
Marymount University has
come in fifth in the West.
U. S. News and World Report
conducted a survey which ranked
1,371 accredited four-year schools
from around the country. The sur¬
vey combined statistical data with
the results of U. S. News survey of
academic reputations among 2,655
college presidents, deans and ad¬
missions directors, resulting in a
record 65 percent response rate.
As in the past, the 1 ,371 schools
in the survey were divided using
guidelines established by the
Carnegie Foundation for the Ad¬
vancement of Teaching. To sim¬
plify the groupings, several catego¬
ries were combined, and some
larger categories were subdivided
regionally. This created the same
14 categories of schools used in
prior years.
To determine the reputational
rankings, the participants in the
survey rated only institutions in the
same category as their own schools.
The statistical data and the
reputational rankings were then
converted to percentiles. The high¬
est raw score for any attribute was
valued at 100 percent. Next, all the
other scores were taken as a per¬
centage of the top score and to¬
taled. The five attributed for each
school were then numerically
ranked in descending order and
weighted: graduation rate for 10
percent, financial resources, 15
percent, and the other three for 25
percent each. The weighted num¬
bered ranks for each school were
totaled and compared with the
weighted totals for the others in its
category. The highest ranking
school was the ohe with the lowest
total. Its overall score was con¬
verted into percentiles. The totals
for the other schools were then
translated into a percent of the top
score. The schools were then rank¬
ing in descending order.
The national universities and lib¬
eral arts colleges, usually have
more selective admissions and
greater resources than those in
other categories. According to
Carnegie guidelines, the 204 na¬
tional universities offer a wide range
of baccalaureate programs, place
a high priority on research and
award Jarge numbers of Ph.Ds; the
140 national liberal arts colleges
are highly selective and award more
than half their degrees in the liberal
arts.
continued on page four
