VALDOSTA — University, college and technical school students have been strolling across their campuses for at least a month now adjusting to post-secondary life and coming a few steps closer to their future careers. They have worked hard, studied and prepared for this next chapter. 

While they may be prepared to go to class, study, read a lot and make new friends, no one can ever be prepared to be sexually assaulted. 

One of the most exciting times in life can quickly turn to personal tragedy. 

Sexual assault is a topic of conversation from the classroom to the dorm room.

According to Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, a nationwide organization singularly focused on preventing sexual assault, 11.2 percent of college students will be sexually assaulted.

“One really is too many,” said Holly Wright, a counselor at Valdosta State University. “That we have any issue at all is a problem.”

Of the nation’s undergraduate student population, 23 percent of women and 5 percent of men are sexually assaulted. Eight percent of female and 2 percent of male graduate or professional students are likely to be sexually assaulted, according to RAINN.

And it is not just at the large schools.

The grim reality is even colleges such as Valdosta State University are not immune. During the 2017-18 school year, there were five reported cases of sexual assault at VSU. 

Of those five cases, two were off campus and transferred to Valdosta Police Department, one was off campus and anonymously reported to the Title IX office, one was anonymously reported to the Counseling Center and one case was taken to the Southern District Attorney’s office.

For Georgia College, Milledgeville’s public liberal arts university, its Clery Report showcases similar numbers: two reported rapes from 2016.

Clery Act Reports are federal requirements for every college and university participating in federal financial aid programs. Each school must maintain and disclose campus crime statistics and security information.

“The issue of sexual assault is one that every college campus is grappling with,” said Jennifer Graham, director of the Women’s Center at Georgia College. “I don’t know that there is a single campus anywhere that is immune to students who have experienced sexual assault, and Georgia College is just like any other campus in that we do have students who have experienced sexual assault.”

Graham said Georgia College and other college campuses face issues of dating and domestic violence and stalking.

Other universities and colleges in the SunLight region — Southern Regional Technical College in Moultrie, Thomas University in Thomasville, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton and North Florida Community College in Madison, Fla. — revealed no recent reports of sexual assault on its Clery reports.

Just because there are no numbers to show a problem, that doesn’t mean sexual assault isn’t happening, said Wade Glover, Thomasville Police Department public information officer.

“Some victims are just simply too embarrassed to report it,” Glover said.

Wright said most sexual assaults will go unreported by college students and the general population. Only 20 percent of female student victims will report their sexual assault to law enforcement, according to RAINN.

She agrees with Glover’s reasoning because most sexual assaults occur by someone the victim knows — a significant other, friend or even family member.

“Most of them occur from someone the victim knows, which is probably why they aren’t reported,” Wright said. “There are absolutely some stranger rapes but that is not the majority of what is happening.”

Only three out of 10 rapes are committed by a stranger, according to RAINN.

Alan Rowe, VSU director of public safety and chief of police, said he can’t even remember the last time a stranger rape incident was reported by a student.

“We generally find that it’s a known party,” Rowe said. “In very long memory, we haven’t had a stranger incident.”

The type of sexual assault isn’t the only reason victims keep themselves from reporting the incident.

Fear of reprisal, didn’t think it was important enough to report and didn’t want the perpetrator to get in trouble were among the top reasons found by RAINN that female college students didn’t report sexual assault.

Heather Grizzle is one of a few sexual assault nurse examiners at The Haven, a non-profit organization that provides services to victims of sexual assault or domestic abuse in the Valdosta area. The Haven provides a battered women’s shelter and rape crisis center – one of the only services like it to exist in the South Georgia region.

Grizzle said no matter how easy other SANEs and sexual assault advocates make the reporting process for victims, it will always be intimidating because it follows after a trauma.

“The rape and the exam that follows is not an easy thing to go through, but hopefully we make it easier so more people will report the crimes,” Grizzle said.

For those that choose to report, there are a few options.

Most campuses allow students to report to Title IX offices, police departments — campus or city stations — or health and counseling centers. Some may choose to report to all three, as the departments usually work together, especially when it comes to sex and relationship crimes.

The Haven and similar organizations work closely with campus agencies. Victims can also report sexual assault incidents there, usually as long as it’s being reported five days after the assault.

A typical report results in an exam using a rape kit, taking photos of injuries, collecting clothes that were worn during the incident and giving medications to prevent infections and pregnancies, Grizzle said.

Each victim is also given a sexual assault advocate, who gives the victim relevant information to move forward through the reporting process and serves as someone for the victim to talk to.

“Sexual assault advocates are so important,” Grizzle said. “They stay with the victim throughout the whole process. They don’t typically have to testify in court. They just walk you through the process and it’s not as intimidating.”

With any of those agencies, a victim can choose to give their name and the perpetrator’s name, or they can do what is called a “Jane Doe” report, which is anonymous.

Rowe said three of last year’s reports were anonymous, which isn’t always helpful when collecting data that could be helpful for preventative measures.

“Anonymous reporting complicates data, but it gives them the services they need,” Rowe said. “If we get the trust in the system to get these reports, I have data to use for prevention purposes. But it’s not happening. It’s not being reported.”

Rowe said they give students two years after the incident to prosecute.

Glover and the ABAC police department recommend students report immediately after the incident so a forensic exam can be done accurately. However, this does not mean the victim has to consider prosecution.

“Filing a police report with a police officer will not obligate the victim to prosecute, nor will it subject the victim to scrutiny or judgmental opinions from officers,” states the ABAC Title IX Sexual Misconduct Guidelines and Procedures section of the student handbook.

At many Title IX offices across the country and in the SunLight region, including VSU, there is no timeline for when victims can report sexual assaults.

Maggie Viverette, director at the Office of Social Equity, said students can give a report days to years after the incident.

“From the institutional perspective, there is no timeline,” Viverette said. “A student may decide they’re not ready right now, but they are welcome to do so later down the line. We are here for the students, and we have so many resources.”

The Title IX office works to get students into counseling, helps them with past academic struggles and informs them of law-enforcement resources if the victim decides to go that route.

As far as perpetrators go — the Title IX office calls them respondents — Viverette said they are dealt with after her office reviews the situation.

The consequence can be anything from required training and counseling to suspension from school.

“There is an investigation into the case, then there is a hearing process and a hearing panel,” Viverette said. “They render sanctions. For a student accused, that could range from training to suspension.”

VSU and Georgia College acknowledge they have a bigger problem than other campuses in the SunLight region.

For Viverette and her office, a higher number of reports doesn’t necessarily reflect a problem. It’s a step closer to finding solutions.

“The actual hope is that the number increases not because of the number of incidents have increased, but the number of people reporting has,” Viverette said.

Besides, Viverette said, it’s not about the numbers, but rather how the university is dealing with the problem.

The Women’s Center at Georgia College, Graham said, is working hard to make education a priority among their male and female students.

“As we increase education on campus, we continue to see the number of students who are seeking services increase, whether that’s a report to our office or a report to campus police or to Title IX, who does on campus investigations,” Graham said.

All incoming freshmen sit through a 45-minute presentation on the importance of bystander intervention. For more in-depth awareness, the school offers a 3.5-hour course that goes into even more detail on bystander intervention using small groups, discussion and practice scenarios.

Even schools without any sexual assault reports are taking the initiative to teach their students though resources are limited.

According to the SRTC annual security report, students and faculty are required to complete an online sexual assault awareness and prevention course called “Haven.”

The security report also lists the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 for a reference to those victims who don’t know what their next steps should be in the reporting process.

Dr. Bob Bohman, Thomas University vice president for student life, said students are required to read university material about all aspects of sexual assault.

Students then take a test about what they read. If they do not pass the test, they repeat the process, Bohman said.

It’s also educating college students that they should not attend parties and become inebriated — a situation that could result in sexual assault, Glover said.

“If you go to an event where alcohol or drugs are consumed, you could become a victim,” the officer said.

Several agencies are available to help sexual assault victims, including the district attorney’s office victim advocate, The Treehouse, mental health counseling, Halcyon Home and Archbold Memorial Hospital, where medical treatment would be administered.

“We have resources that you wouldn’t even have to come to the police department,” he said.

ABAC’s previous police chief, Bryan Golden, was dismissed after a quote of his that ran in The Stallion, ABAC’s student newspaper, three years ago.

“Most of these sexual assaults are women waking up the next morning with a guilt complex,” Golden said in the Oct. 27, 2015, article. “That ain’t rape, that’s being stupid. When the dust settles, it was all consensual. It doesn’t happen here. It doesn’t show up here. They’re about as much a rape as a goat roping.”

Since, ABAC has a new police chief, Frank Strickland, and he has university-wide standards set for educational purposes on sexual assault.

All ABAC students are required to complete online training classes on Title IX, sexual assault and sexual harassment on campus.

They are also required to complete online training on alcohol and drug abuse on campus.

A change in shift schedules has increased visibility in officers on ABAC’s campus.

Other campus services include counseling at the Student Development Center, and there is even a special procedure enabling victims to retroactively withdraw from a semester or individual courses without academic penalty.

Off-campus services include the Victim Witness Assistance Program, Ruth’s Cottage Tifton DV Hotline and Tift County Behavioral Health.

Skip James, NFCC director of campus safety and security, said his campus hasn’t seen any sexual assaults reported in the 14 years he has been employed there.

Still, safety is a priority in order to keep it that way. James said along with armed and unarmed security on campus, NFCC also has a mass notification system and security cameras in place.

“We have been very lucky in regards to crimes on campus,” James said.

VSU is the largest university in the SunLight region with more than 11,000 students. The amount of resources available to sexual assault victims and even the perpetrator reflect the population.

The Counseling Center not only provides 24/7 on-call counseling services, Wright said, but it puts on programs and discussions across campus to spread awareness of sexual assault.

Her team often targets athletes and Greek life students.

“Unfortunately, athletes are put in circumstances that might make them question what’s right and what’s not,” Wright said. “It’s because they have a spotlight on them. They’re in the public eye more than anyone else just like the Greek students do.”

The campus also offers self-defense courses and education on bystander intervention. Oftentimes, Wright said she works with professors for them to incentivize attending the Counseling Center’s sexual assault events by students.

The Haven, which services nine counties, has employees constantly on VSU’s campus tabling and hosting discussions.

“We certainly spend a lot of time out in the community trying to improve education,” Grizzle said. “The #metoo movement and things that are happening internationally is helping get the word out.”

Grizzle said she even works to promote awareness of sexual assault against men, who frequent her office with sexual assault reports.

“In Georgia, rape is defined as penis to vagina contact,” Grizzle said. “We’re leaving out a whole population of people who could get sexually assaulted on college campuses. Hopefully we can change the language for men that are sexually assaulted.”

Even with the resources available to students on the SunLight region campuses, Wright said more can always be done to improve prevention education.

Still so many students, she said, have misunderstandings of what true consent is. It scares her sometimes.

“I’m trying to save them,” Wright said. “I want to save these young men from themselves just as much as I want to save these young women. They’re both at risk, but they don’t have to be. We still have a lot of work to do.”

The SunLight team participating in this report includes Katelyn Umholtz, Eve Copeland, Taylor Hembree, MarKeith Cromartie, Patti Dozier, Jessie Box.

Katelyn Umholtz is a reporter with the Valdosta Daily Times. She can be contacted at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256.