Consent: Majority of rapes go unreported
Continued from page 1
A large proportion of the presenta
tion following the play emphasized
the meaning and importance of con
sent. Julia’s roommate Lisa, played by
Stacy Borke, comforts her friend and
gives her information on sexual well
ness. After Julia visits a counselor, she
ends up pressing changes against Tan
ner because she was forced to do
something she did not agree to.
Tanner’s friend Matt, played by
Aaron J. Martin, also had the role of a
supportive friend, but not in a way
that condoned Tanner’s behavior. The
play emphasized the point that just
because Tanner and Julia had sex in
the past does not make it okay to force
her to do it again.
After the play, the cast told the audi
ence that they were not there to scare
them, “but to show you reality.”
“We’ve come here because...we
want you to be safer if you choose to
drink,” Martin said.
Statistics from the National Online
Resource Center on Violence Against
Women were shown after the play,
along with information regarding how
to deal with a friend who has been a
victim or perpetrator of a sexual crime
and what it means to have consent.
Kuzma and Borke illustrated in a
short skit that silence is not con
sent, coercion is not consent and a
person who has been drinking can
not give consent.
The SWAT presentation showed
statistics from a report by the Justice
Department’s National Institute of
Justice and Bureau of Justice Statis
tics, which estimated that “For com
pleted and attempted rapes, nearly 90
percent of the victims knew the of
fender, who was usually a classmate,'
friend, ex-boyfriend or acquaintance.”
On a campus of over 20,000 stu
dents, eight forcible sex offenses were
reported between 2001 and 2003, but
the number of sexual assaults reported
do not reflect the actual number of inci
dences. The YWCA University of Ore
Eugene’s Flower Home
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610 East 13th Avenue
(541)485-3655
UGENESFLOWERHOME.COM
gon Web site states that sexual assault
has the lowest convicted rate for any vi
olent crime at 1 in 60. Citing an FBI sta
tistic, the Web site states that “only 1
out of every 25 rapes is reported. ”
The SWAT performances will con
tinue every Thursday and Sunday
through the month of July.
nwilbur@ daily emerald, com
Statistics from the Justice Depart
ment's National Institute of Justice and
Bureau of Justice Statistics
• About 3 percent of college women experience
completed or attempted rape; nearly 90 percent
of those women know the offender.
• About 13 percent of college women have been
stalked; four out of five of these women know
their stalker and 43 percent of women are
stalked by a boyfriend or ex-boyfriend.
• A majority of sexual victimizations happen af
ter 6 p.m. and 51.8 percent take place after mid
night. About 40 percent of women have been
drinking or taking drugs prior to the incident.
National Online Resource Center on Violence
Against Women
http://www.vawnet.org/index.php
For more information e-mail Megan Thompson
atmgt@uoregon.edu or call 541-346-1198.
University of Oregon Services
Sexual Violence Prevention and Survival Sup
port: 541-346-1156
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Educa
tional and Support Services: 541-346-1134
University Health Center: 541-346-2770
ASUO Women’s Center: 541-346-4095
UO Crisis Center: 541-3464488
Alliance for Sexual Assault Prevention
Office of Student Life
5216 University of Oregon
164 Oregon Hall
Eugene, OR 97403
541-346-3216
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Interfaith: Idea of service came
to founder five years before 9/11
Continued from page 1
“nurture confidence in the universal
power of love and unity that tran
scends all earthly limitations,” ac
cording to the pamphlet.
“Initially we thought we would
only hold one service,” said Rev.
Nola Woodbury, minister at Unity of
the Valley church and member of
the interfaith council. “Then we
thought we’d do it for three months,
then six, then we’d stop after the
one year anniversary. But now
we’re in our 46th month.”
The interfaith council originally
named the service “A Time of Prayer,
Remembrance & Reflection,” but re
named it “Interfaith, Prayer & Reflec
tion” to change the focus from strictly
9/11 to coming together and the same
ness shared by the gatherers.
“People are invited to participate
however they feel comfortable,”
Woodbury said. Although the service
is held in a Christian facility, Wood
bury said it takes place there because
of the size of the building, not the faith
or denomination.
During the one-hour service on
Monday, 10 faiths were represented by
their followers. These included the
Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Chris
tianity and Islam, as well as Bud
dhism, Baha’i, Hinduism, Native
American, Roman Catholic, Sikh Dhar
ma and Sufi. Many participants sang
and played guitar while others recited
Quranic passages, Native American
and Farsi prayers.
“The interfaith services allow us
to be different but still live in peace
and understanding,” Woodbury
said. “In the busyness of the world
it’s just nice to have a place for
quietness and reflection.”
The Interfaith Service founder, Siri
Kaur Khalsa-Harris, said that the idea
to hold the service came to her one day
while in deep meditation. A practition
er of the Sikh Dharma faith, Khalsa
Harris said that an entity that had been
with her since she was a child asked
her to start the interfaith services.
“I was made to write down the rea
sons for having the services ... and I
was told that they should be con
structed in a way that all people can
participate together with respect,”
Khalsa-Harris said.
In a written account of her experi
ences, Khalsa-Harris explained her rea
sons for holding the services: “Too
many wars in the name of God. Too
many blaming God for the ills of the
world. Too many people feeling it is
their duty to impress their small ideas
of God on others. Too many separated
from the Earth that God provided for
us. Too many too separated from God,
the creator of all.”
These instructions came to her five
years before 9/11, but it was after the
terrorist attacks that she took it to the
emergency Sikh council. The meeting
was called, Khalsa-Harris said, be
cause the council feared for its com
munity, particularly its Muslim
community members.
The proposal for Interfaith Services
was taken to T\vo Rivers Interfaith
Ministries for help in spreading the
word. The proposal was immediately
accepted and the first service was held
on Oct. 11,2001.
Last summer Khalsa-Harris was told
by her inner entity to reveal the origin
of her idea; that it was divine. She ex
plained that “if we work selflessly it
could be manifest around the world.
This is a structure that can be used
anywhere in the world for any people
to come together.”
“People come here from their own
heart, scripture and prayer, and can
participate however they wish,” Khal
sa-Harris said. “What (the services)
have done is they’ve allowed for beau
tiful expressions of diverse religions
and people, but also it’s been a learn
ing process. People are less afraid of
each other.”
Wayne Hunsaker, a representative
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints and director of Eugene In
stitute of Religion, believes there is
good in all religions and that there is
nothing to be gained by a religion that
is closed up and exclusive. “Anything
that is good becometh of God; any
thing that is evil becometh of the dev
il,” Hunsaker said.
“This is a model for humanity...that
we don’t all have to have the same reli
gion,” Khalsa-Harris said.
nwilbur@dailyemercLljd.com
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