Rape victim's experience sparks emotion in students

By DANIELLE N. RODIER
Collegian Staff Writer

I was raped, and it still hurts four years later, Katie Koestner told a group of 297 students at Schwab Auditorium last night. Koestner, who has appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," a Time magazine cover, and has recently finished a project with HBO based on her date rape experience, spoke to the crowd not as a victim, but as a survivor.

While Koestner was a freshman at William and Mary College, she said she was raped in her dorm room by a man she had been dating. She related the chilling details of the night which had begun as a romantic dinner date and progressed into a turbulent whirlwind of hurt and anger. Koestner said her experience was one of the first date rape stories to reach the media and when it did, controversy erupted as to whether or not the action her boyfriend performed was really rape at all. Koestner said she did invite him into her dorm room and did kiss him there, however "Peter," as she now calls him, wanted to go further than Katie was ready to and didn't understand that "no means no."

"I can't remember the moment he did it," said Koestner leaning against the podium with her arms hugging her sides. "I clenched my fists and put my arms across my chest. I bit a hole in my mouth. I can't remember very much except for the taste of blood. I've had four years to think about it and I can't remember. I'm sorry."

Officials at William and Mary did not take Koestner seriously, she said, and tried to talk her out of pressing charges against Peter so as not to harm the reputation of the school. Eventually, she said she did have a hearing in front of a William and Mary judiciary committee, but her attacker's only punishment was an order restraining him from ever visiting her in her dorm. Koestner has since used the pain and frustration she encountered during her ordeal to give her the strength to speak to the public, including schools of all academic levels, and to fight in Congress for the passage of the Victim's Bill of Rights in 1992. During the presentation she emphasized the importance of communication, responsibility and respect where matters of sexual politics are concerned.

"She put a face on date rape," said Gina Marquess (junior-English). "She helped to knock down some of the rape stereotypes that society perpetuates."

Russ Burns (senior-architectual engineering), former president of Men Stopping Rape, was very much affected by the presentation. "I'm fired up now. Seeing a real person who was in the actual situation and the effects on that person brings it all home."

The Center for Women Students, who brought Koestner to Penn State, has presented a speaker on sexual assault annually for the past seven years. Patty Johnstone, assistant director of the center, believes that date rape is "a significant problem" on campus and that Koestner would be an ideal speaker to make Penn State students aware of this problem. "She really connects very well with the students. I heard a lot of students say that they were affected and had a lot of new things to think about," Johnstone said.