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STATE & LOCAL
Wednesday, March 1,1989
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Speaker: Communication key
to avoiding possible date rape
By Juliette Rizzo
STAFF WRITER
Date rape, also known as social
rape or acquaintance rape, is one of
the fastest growing crimes on Ameri
ca’s college campuses.
“Women are vulnerable in college
because they are just reaching the
stage where they can assert their in
dependence,” said Lesley Stoup,
special events housing coordinator
Man receives
99 years for rape
of A&M student
The man accused of raping
and attempting to kill a 21-year-
old Texas A&M student in Octo
ber was sentenced last week to 99
years in prison.
Daniel Lee Corwin, 30, of
Huntsville, plead guilty to the
charge of attempted capital mur
der.
An A&M student was kidnap
ped from a campus parking lot
on Oct. 20 and forced to drive
her Chevrolet suburban to Lick
Creek Park south of College Sta
tion.
The abductor raped her, cut
her throat and left her tied to a
tree.
She was able to free herself and
crawl to the road where a passing
driver found her.
An anonymous call led police
to Corwin after a sketch of the at
tacker was publicized. Police later
found one of Corwin’s finger
prints in the suburban.
Prosecutors dropped the
charge of aggravated rape as part
of a plea bargain agreement.
Corwin will be eligible for pa
role in 15 years.
He was released from prison
about three years ago after serv
ing nine years of a 40-year sen
tence for aggravated rape in Bell
County.
and sponsor of a rape awareness
program at Texas A&M. “They’re
learning their identity and their va
lues of sex. They need to know
where they want to go in
relationships.”
Ann met Jim at a party. He was
really good looking. Jim thought
Ann looked “hot” in her sexy dress,
and he knew she was interested in
him by the way she kept gesturing
and touching his arm when she
spoke. He invited her to come over
for a drink.
Ann thought they had a lot in
common, so what harm could a sim
ple drink at his apartment do?
They talked for a while on the
bed, of course, because he was a col
lege student and couldn’t afford
much furniture. Then he made his
move. She struggled and pushed
him away suggesting “No,” but he
forced himself upon her and raped
her.
Jim couldn’t understand why she
was so upset afterward. She wanted
it too, didn’t she? After all, she wore
the sexy dress and she struggled be
cause she didn’t want to appear easy,
right?
Ann couldn’t believe what hap
pened and kept telling herself that
Jim didn't look like a rapist. Then
again, exactly what does a rapist look
like?
Rape by large strangers in dark al
leys is beoming a myth as the num
ber of acquaintance rapes increases
nationwide. It is a fact that 50 per
cent of women raped are intimately
or casually familiar with their at
tacker.
Date rape is defined as any situa
tion in which a person is forced,
physically or psychologically, to have
sex against his or her wishes.
Although rape can happen to any
one, studies show college students,
especially females between the ages
of 16 and 22, are most vulnerable to
an attack.
It is a myth, Stoup said, that date
rapes take place because girls say no
when they mean yes or because girls
like to play games with guys.
Girls may try to look nice on a
date, she said, but even if their cloth
ing is revealing it does not mean
they’re askng for trouble.
T he attacker usually feels the
need to overpower the female or be
in control of the situation, Stoup
said.
One rape happens every 6 min
utes, she said, and only 1 in 10 gets
reported.
She attributes this to the fact that
most women who are attacked by
someone they know do not regard
the incident as rape because the at
tacker was not a stranger.
“If it’s against your will, it’s defi
nitely rape and needs to be report
ed,” she said.
The women has the right to say
no, Stoup said, even if she has pre
viously had sex with the man. If he
insists and forces her to have sex, it is
rape regardless of how intimate the
relationship used to be.
“Women need to be aware of the
signals they send,” she said. “Be
aware of your non-verbals because
they can send mixed messages.”
Date rapes occur, she said, be
cause men do not realize they are
misinterpreting women’s signals.
Merely kissing does not mean she
wants to go further.
A survey taken at Auburn Univer
sity found 75 percent of the men
surveyed did not think forced kiss
ing was wrong although the woman
said no.
When asked if they had ever been
raped, four percent of the women
surveyed said yes. When the ques
tion was rephrased to ask whether
they had ever had sex against their
will, the percentage raised to 20 per
cent.
A survey on date rape taken by
former A&M psychology professor
Dr. Charlene Muelenhard showed
80 percent of the female students
surveyed had experienced un
wanted kissing. Males also viewed
some women as forward because 62
percent of them also experienced
unwanted kissing. Kissing led to in
tercourse against the woman’s will,
17.6 percent of the females re
sponded.
Stoup said to avoid similar inci
dents, women need to decide how
far they want to go beforehand.
“Communicate and be assertive,”
she said. “What he’s going to do to
you will hurt a lot more than you
hurting his feelings.”
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March Class Schedule
Beginning WordPerfect
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Beginning DOS
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For more information call (409) 693-2020.
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Outside speakers available upon request.
College Station, Texas 77840
Texan wins Miss U.S.A.
for fifth consecutive year
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Gret-
chen Polhemus, 23, a model and
part-time cattle broker from Fort
Worth, was crowned Miss USA
on Tuesday night, becoming the
fifth consecutive Miss Texas to
win the pageant.
The four other finalists were
from Oklahoma, Louisiana,
Georgia and New Jersey.
Miss Georgia was named
fourth runner-up, Miss Louisiana
was third runner-up, Miss New
Jersey was second runner-up and
Miss Oklahoma was first runner-
U P’
Master of Ceremonies Dick
Clark, during the interview por
tion of the judging, asked Polhe
mus how she came to be a cattle
broker.
She said her studies were in
real estate.
“But I always had a love for an
imals and I always had a love for
rodeos ... so I said ‘why not com
bine the two for my customers?’ ”
When asked to describe her
self, she said:
“I think you could call me an
entrepreneur. I have a lot of cu
riosity, a lot of drive, a lot of de
termination, and maybe a little bit
of flexibility.”
The four previous winners
were Laura Martinez-Herring of
El Paso in 1985, Christy Fichtner
of Dallas in 1986, Michelle Royer
of Keller in 1987 and Courtney
Gibbs of Fort Worth in 1988.
Polhemus also was the fifth
consecutive Miss USA to be
trained for the pageant by the El
Paso team of Richard Guy and
Rex Holt.
The two own GuyRex Asso
ciates, a firm specializing in train
ing models for pageants.
Guy and Holt said they found
little to criticize in Polhemus’ ap
pearance while preparing her for
the national pageant.
They liked her intelligence and
the fact she is experienced in the
cattle business.
“One of the proudest moments
of my life was when I was 18 and
earned my Texas real estate li
cense,” she said in remarks taped
earlier and played for the tele
vision audience as she paraded
across the stage during the swim
suit competition.
“Now I can face life’s chal
lenges,” she said, “and I can fi
nally balance my checkbook,” ref
erring to the many hours of math
that were involved in her real es
tate training.
Bryan rakes in $930 in park use fees
from sorority Playday participants
By Sherri Roberts
STAFF WRITER
Participants of Playday, the philanthropic project
sponsored by the Alpha Delta Pi sorority at Bryan Utili
ties Lake Saturday, were forced to leave the event early
and pay a $2 fee per car because they failed to pay the
revenue when entering the site. Officials from the
Bryan Police Department, on behalf of the city of
Bryan, collected a fee total of $930.
Some participants waited in line to exit the lake area
longer than three hours as officials of the Texas Alco
holic Beverage Commission and the police department
collected the fee. TABC officials administered tests to
several participants to determine if they were intoxi
cated. Two students were arrested for drunk and disor
derly conduct and five students were given citations for
alcohol-related offenses.
Representatives of Alpha Delta Pi paid a $15 fee to
rent a pavilion at the lake. However, all cars entering
the area are required to leave $2 in a receptacle located
near the lake entrance, said Lee Bason, division man
ager for recreation in the City of Bryan. This revenue
becomes part of the Citv of Bryan’s general fund, used
to maintain parks and various other public facilities.
A sign at the lake area informs individuals entering
the area that they must place an envelope containing a
$2 fee payment in the receptacle, and place a portion of
the envelope on the vehicle’s windshield as proof of
payment, he said. The payment of the fee is operated
on an honor system in that no official directly collects
the money from individuals, he said.
Melinda Jordan, president of Alpha Delta Pi said
coordinators of the event thought the $15 fee paid by
the sorority to reserve the lake site included all fee re
quirements.
“It was just a misunderstanding between us and the
park officials,” Jordan said.
Bason said that in past years, a clerk has collected the
fee from individuals as they enter the site. However,
this practice was eliminated two years ago to cut admin
istrative costs.
Bason said he had not been informed of the date
Playday was scheduled to take place, but had he known,
the collection of the fee would have been handled dif
ferently.
“I would have made sure we had someone out there
the whole time to collect the fee as they came in.”
Tuesday
April 4
Wednesday
April 5
Spring and Summer graduating
inducted into the
Association of
Former Students
Voting for Class Agents to represent the Class
for the next five years will be held each night.
Winners announced April 10.
seniors will be
Tickets are available FREE Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday, March 28, 29 & 30, MSC Flag Room
Don’t miss this opportunity to grow!
MSC Ballroom, April 4th & 5th, 6:30 p.m. Tickets required.
Compliments
The Association of Former Students