Students are already setting up itineraries for travelling and
partying on Memorial Day weekend, and safety may not factor
explicitly into their planning process. But one UCLA student warns
these vacationers to be on alert during the upcoming holiday.
Sarah, whose named has been changed to protect her identity, was
like any other spring break party-goer ““ sexual assault was
the last thing she expected to experience during her trip to
Rosarito, Mexico.
Sarah and four of her friends went to the popular vacation spot
to relax and go dancing. Their fun was cut short when Sarah was
robbed and raped outside of a club on April 26.
“I know I was raped and I know it was by more than one
man, but I couldn’t tell you how I got to the
(rapists’) car,” she said.
The night she was assaulted, Sarah and her friends decided to go
to a club and got separated in line.
A man gave Sarah and her female friend free entry and drink
tickets.
The two women were then moved to the front of the line while the
men in her group remained farther back. The bartender inside of the
club directed Sarah and her friend to an outside bar to use their
drink tickets.
There, they were told to stand on a platform above the bar,
where other women were dancing, to receive their drinks.
“I just have flashes of what happened,” Sarah
said.
The next thing she knew, she was in a police car telling
officers what she could remember about her experience.
The assaulters had raped her and emptied out her purse, she
said. She believes she may have been drugged.
Sarah said she doesn’t know how she got into the police
car. The local authorities called her friends, who picked her
up.
Earlier, Sarah’s friends had split up at the club, taking
two cars, and each group thought she was with the other.
Sarah called her mother from the border after they left for
Orange County the next day.
“I just got a real typical shock reaction … with an
adrenaline rush, and (I was) shaking,” said Sarah’s
mother.
After her daughter assured her she was all right, Sarah’s
mother went home and immediately called the Orange County police
and the Rape Crisis Center.
“I’m kind of a doer type of person, so I immediately
went into that mode because I knew all of the kids were in
shock,” Sarah’s mother said.
Sarah reported her rape and was escorted by the police to
Anaheim Memorial Hospital. The treatment was paid for by the Orange
County Rape Crisis Center and the Sheriff’s department.
Sarah said she was a virgin and had not been taking birth
control pills, so she was given emergency contraception, known more
commonly as the morning-after pill.
She was also given antibiotics for any infections she might have
acquired, and every other month she must now get a check-up for HIV
and other incurable sexually transmitted diseases.
In the process of examination, the emergency ward took evidence
for a possible case against the rapists.
The doctors collecting physical evidence ask students to try not
to brush their teeth, change their clothes, or go to the bathroom
if they have experienced sexual assault, said Tina Oakland,
director of UCLA’s Center for Women and Men.
This is because oral swabs and urine samples serve as key
evidence and can help to locate the rapist, and discern whether the
victim was drugged.
Though evidence was collected, both the counselor at the rape
crisis center and the sheriff told Sarah and her mother that
because the rape occurred outside the country, they could not
pursue a case.
Although the police do not have jurisdiction to work on cases
outside the country, they will work with officials where the rape
took place, said Nancy Greenstein, director of community services
for university police.
Once a week, Sarah gets counselling at the Rape Crisis Center in
Santa Monica.
In terms of her emotions, Sarah has good and bad days, but is at
her best when she is around friends, she said.
“It’s not very good for studying, and it was hard
last week when I actually had to sit down by myself and study for
midterms,” Sarah said.
She had notified her professors soon after the assault, and told
them that her attendance would be sporadic.
At the Center for Women and Men, rape service consultants can
assist students with academic issues such as getting delays in
course work and arranging classes.
As a student, Sarah continues to go to classes and campus
events.
One recent event that affected her directly was the Clothesline
Project which was displayed last week at Schoenberg Quad.
The Clothesline Project exhibits decorated T-shirts
commemorating victims and survivors of sexual and gender
violence.
“It made me sad just reading all of the shirts and seeing
how … it happens to so many people who don’t deserve
it,” Sarah said.
A large number of women are sexually assaulted every year, and
most of the cases are not reported, Oakland said.
She also said many people do not talk about their experience
because they blame themselves.
Sarah’s advice for survivors of rape is to be open about
their experience.
“(Rape) is not a reflection of anybody’s character,
it’s something that happens to you, not something you bring
upon yourself,” she said.