By Campus Community

To the editor:
After the excellent Spike Lee gave his speech, he queried for questions among the students gathered. One student, as he spoke in front of hundreds of his peers, referred to those of non-European descent as “unbleached.” As a bleached person (person of bleach?), I find it curious and mildly hypocritical that this kind of language has gone unnoticed and uncommented on in a time when all kinds of people are sounding off about an ephemeral racist presence on campus.

Ian Boswell ’09
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To the editor:
As Macalester students and Patient Educators at Family Tree Clinic, we were deeply moved by the opinion article regarding rape at Macalester. We first would like to applaud the author for sharing her beautifully-written personal story and breaking the silence on an issue that clearly does affect Macalester students, even if we may prefer to think it does not. We would like to reiterate that rape is a real problem. Based on a three-year, nation-wide survey of college campuses by the Sexual Violence Center, one in three women will be raped in her lifetime and one in five men will be sexually assaulted in his lifetime. Acquaintance rape statistics are especially alarming: eighty-four percent of men who committed rape said that what they did was definitely not rape, and forty-two percent of the rape victims told nobody about the assault.

We were disheartened to read about the writer’s experience receiving a “lecture on teenage drinking” from the assault nurse in the hospital, as well as the financial burden incurred for medical treatment. In hopes that no one else faces such stressful circumstances during a time of crisis, we would like to share a few resources available locally in case of rape or sexual assault:
Sexual Offense Services (SOS) is located only blocks from campus at 1619 Dayton Avenue, and offers 24-hour telephone support, individual counseling, support groups, referrals for therapy and financial assistance. Also, S.O.S always has staff on-call for assistance and advocacy during police, medical and legal procedures. 24-hour Hotline: (651) 643-3006.

Rape and Sexual Abuse Center offers 24-hour telephone support, walk-in counseling, group counseling, and legal advocates from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. 24-hour Help-Line: (651) 825-4357.

Sexual Violence Center (SVC) provides 24-hour telephone support, individual counseling, weekly support groups, advocacy and weekly legal clinics. Crisis Line: (651) 871-5111.

Family Tree Clinic is a low-cost clinic located on Dayton Ave in the same building as SOS, and provides support, medical services and referrals for persons who have experienced sexual assault. This includes STI testing, Emergency Contraception, pelvic exams, and in some cases preventative antibiotics. The clinic does not do evidentiary exams; however, it is important to note that these exams must be done within 48 hours of the assault and that they do not obligate a person to press charges. Phone: (651) 645-0478.

Sincerely,
Kate Todd-Thompson ’07
and Elizabeth Eckel ’07