Visiting professor gives rape prevention advice

In 2003, Kobe Bryant was voted to the All-NBA and All-Defensive first teams.

That same year, Bryant was also charged with sexual assault.

That example was one of several mentioned at a lecture Tuesday by John Foubert, a higher education professor at the College of William and Mary.

Foubert spoke about bystander rape intervention and how to prevent sexual assaults.

“It has been shown repeatedly that one in four college women have experienced rape or attempted-rape,” Foubert said. “We have one big problem … and it is about time we joined together to solve it.”

Foubert said the steps for intervention include noticing the problem, labeling the program correctly and realizing something is wrong.

This could include seeing a noticeably drunk woman being led to a back room.

 Those who intervene should then assume responsibility to help the victim, decide how to help and act quickly, he said.

Foubert gave a specific example of two De Anza College women who were at a party and took action to rescue a rape victim, breaking down the door to the room in which the assault was happening.

“All that is necessary for rape to keep happening is for the good people to do nothing about it,” Foubert said.

The event, which about 55 people attended, was sponsored by the Carolina Women’s Center.

The center works on violence and sexual prevention through educational speakers, films and events, said Ashley Fogle, associate director of the center.

“A lot of people think that is a women’s issue, but I think of it as a campus issue,” Fogle said.

One way students can get involved on campus is through the HAVEN program, Helping Advocates for Violence Ending Now, which is run by women’s centers at UNC and Duke University, Fogle said.

 That organization supports victims of sexual violence and furthers the effort to stop sexual violence in the community.

Alyson Culin, a graduate student and co-chairwoman of the women’s organization Project Dinah, said she had heard about Foubert but had not heard him speak until Tuesday.

Culin said she was impressed with the ways that Foubert suggested people intervene.

“I think it is important to get people thinking about what they could do and what they would do,” Culin said.

Foubert said it is everyone’s responsibility to act and decide it cannot happen at UNC. He said most men who rape will do it on average five or six times.

Foubert quoted Martin Luther King Jr., saying, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.”

Foubert said a person can either be silent and let rape happen, or a person can intervene.

“I don’t want to be silent about the things that matter,” he said.



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.