Enterprise Article

After a night of partying on Prospect Avenue with her friends, Lisa Lefco, a former UW-Oshkosh student, was sexually assaulted in her residence hall room in Fletcher Hall during her sophomore year.

Lefco and the assailant were making out on the floor of her single room and fell asleep, while his two friends slept on the beds in the room.

“That’s all I remember,” Lefco said in an interview.

When she woke up, he was pulling out of her.

“I screamed, ‘what the hell,’ and he ran out of my room,” Lefco said. “I didn’t know what had happened. I cried and ran into my friends’ room and was lying in their room crying.”

In 2003, the same year of Lefco’s assault, the Dean of Student’s Office reported 10 sexual assaults occurred on campus. All of the assaults involved students, and in all cases the victim knew the assailant.

The University Police’s 2003 Uniform Crime Report had conflicting statistics, which said there were only four sexual assault cases on campus.

“The Uniform Crime Report we report to the FBI is combined with other reports here on campus,” said Lt. Dennis Nasci of the UP. “That could include the stuff that was reported to the Dean of Students Office or to the residence hall director. All of it is reportable, but we don’t have to put it in the Uniform Crime Report.”

According to the Clery Act, the law requires public and private colleges to publish a report annually with crime statistics.

According to an article written by Susan Nielsen in The Oregonian, “The sexual assault statistics are meant to show the number of alleged assaults reported to local police or campus safety officials, including deans of students.”

Nielsen said parts of the Clery Act are confusing.

“For Example, there is confusion over whether, or how, to include reports of crimes made confidentially by students. Some colleges don’t – which tends to keep their sexual assault numbers artificially low,” the article said.

Ann Malain, a staff psychologist for the university Counseling Center, said that they don’t have to report to the University Police the sexual assault incidents that are brought.

Malain said students can report sexual assault incidents to the Dean of Students Office and not the UP.

“They are both confidential sources, we don’t have to report it,” Malain said. “Some incidents off campus are not reported.”

Malain also said that they receive far fewer sexual assault cases than expected.

“We see probably anywhere between 10 and 20 people that seek services about sexual assault,” Malain said. “It’s probably 200 less than we expect.”

Malain said that according to a national study, 35 out of 100 women experience sexual assault, and there are probably around 200 to 210 students on campus who have experienced sexual assault.

“Unfortunately a lot of women don’t come forward because they blame themselves. A lot of women don’t identify it as a crime,” Malain said.

Lefco didn’t realize it was considered sexual assault until she was talking with some more of her friends the following weekend.

“I didn’t call the police because I didn’t know whether it was considered rape or not, because I didn’t know what happened,” Lefco said.

After one of her friends got into a confrontation with the man, who allegedly sexually assaulted Lefco, he punched the fire alarm and the cops were called.

“The police came, and I had to talk to them about it,” Lefco said. “A report was filed but nothing ever happened. They never called or anything. The police said they couldn’t find the guy because he signed in under a fake name, and that’s why nothing was done.”

Malain said 90 to 95 percent of the women who come forward have alcohol involved in the sexual assault and that most is just alcohol and not date rape drugs.

Nasci said that there may have been suspicion of someone using date rape drugs in 2003, but nothing has been documented.

“You may suspect but may not have actual documentation. It requires getting blood drawn early before it is metabolized through the system,” Nasci said.

Nasci said that he thinks people should be more aware of sexual assault on campus.

“The unfortunate thing is, the most vulnerable are freshman women in their first couple of months on campus,” Malain said.

Lefco agrees that students should be more aware of sexual assault on campus.

“Some people keep quiet because they are afraid,” Lefco said. “If people know they are not the only one, they will be more willing to talk about it.”