The blog post is part 4 of 4 – read the previous posts using the links at the bottom of this post…

One of the first things I did after returning home from my physical examination was to write a statement of incident. This was probably the most difficult thing I had to do, but regardless of where I would take my case, I knew I had to do it. So please, if you are reading this, and find yourself in this similar unfortunate situation of sexual assault, write down what happened as best as you remember. You are going to hate it, but if not now, you will not find yourself writing out the details later.

I have been most fortunate to receive an education that prepared me to respond to my assault in a way that probably astonishes you, but not more so than me. I consider Washington, DC my hometown not only because I first received HIV-related care there, but also because it is where I attended college. In August 2001, I became a first-year student at Georgetown University.

Less than three years later, the sexual assault policy on campus was turned upside down by a fellow classmate, Kate Dieringer. She was made to sign a confidentiality agreement that kept her from disclosing the outcome of the student conduct hearing related to her September 2001 assault – before she was given information about what would happen to her campus assailant.  The United States Department of Education told Georgetown that this policy was illegal in July 2004. Were it not for the widespread publicity this case had on campus when I was there, I do not think I would have considered using Emory’s disciplinary system as a means to seek my own type of justice in November 2008.
(Thank you, Kate!)

I took my statement of incident to someone at my school I confided in, and she made the University Conduct Council process as painless as possible. I was referred to the Office of Student Conduct, sat down with an investigation officer to discuss my statement, waived my right to be present at the Council hearing, and made recommendations to potential outcomes that I would like to see as part of this process. What I wanted – most of all – was for him to have to create an educational campaign for his peers on the health and other consequences of sexual misconduct.  If you do not care about what your actions do to another person, at least care enough about yourself to not be a BoyWithNoManners in the first place.

Two months after my assault, on the same day that my country got a new President, the perpetrator in my case accepted responsibility for violation of the University’s sexual misconduct policy.  He received a disciplinary sanction on his transcript for the spring semester, which probably drew questions from programs he may have applied to, and (the best part of all) he does indeed have to create an educational initiative on sexual misconduct for his peers before he receives his university degree.

“What’s educational is to disclose what happens. If someone knows what happens when they commit a crime it may be a deterrent. You can’t deter a crime in secret.” ~ Kate Dieringer

READ PART 1

READ PART 2

READ PART 3

This is a guest blog post by Nina Martinez

Nina Martinez, 26, is a public health student at Emory University in Atlanta with a focus in epidemiology. Nina’s premature birth facilitated the need for a blood transfusion that infected her with HIV when she was six weeks old in San Francisco, California.