Dear Emerald Editorial Board,

We are members of the Sexual Wellness Advocacy Team (SWAT), and we talk about sexual violence every day.

We are student leaders in sexual violence prevention and we receive consistent and intensive training around the issue of sexual assault. We found your article in last week’s Emerald, “Let’s End the Silence Now” to be invalidating not only to many forms of consensual sexual relationships, but also to SWAT’s central mission.

Stating that “having group sex with an intoxicated person is a moral crime” and “whether or not it was consensual does not change the fact that (this) is of the lowest character ever recorded by a UO athlete” is an invalidating moral judgment of sexual relationships, and it entirely misses the point of why these players’ alleged behavior was wrong. “Whether or not it was consensual” is actually the only thing that would make these players’ actions a sexual assault. Having intoxicated group sex is not wrong. Having non-consensual sex of any kind is.

It is also important to note that according to Oregon state law statute 163.315, consent cannot legally be given while “mentally incapacitated” — not intoxicated. The line between intoxication and incapacitation is different for everyone, but this line can be crossed. If you find intoxicated group sex to be a “moral crime” because you are under the impression that consent cannot be given when drunk, this is a misconception many students have. We hope that in the future you would look to leaders in sexual violence prevention on campus — such as SWAT — before publishing articles like this.

Additionally, we would like to express our anger over the publication of your and KWVA’s article interviewing the “self-proclaimed witness” at the party. Whether or not this person was at the party, this article seems to exist for no reason other than to discredit and cause people to question the survivor’s story. You quote this “witness” as saying, “I had spoken to her friends about that interaction. They gave their opinions on how she interacts with men typically and it mirrored what she was doing at the time.” The survivor’s behavior around men previous to the assault or even the next day does not “disrupt the evidence” given in the police report; it is completely irrelevant. In fact, using a person’s previous sexual attitudes or desires to determine the validity of their experience is the definition of slut-shaming.

In light of the recent attention this case has been given, we understand why you feel it is important to talk about sexual assault. However, directing focus on this particular case contributes to the likelihood that all attention to sexual assault on our campus will be lost once the case loses the limelight. It is ridiculous for the Emerald to assert that “somebody has to” talk about rape, as though there aren’t numerous campus organizations that do so every day. This is especially insulting considering Take Back the Night was just over two weeks ago. We would like to encourage you to cover more events like these, and get your information from credible sources when addressing issues as sensitive as sexual assault. With this email, we have included our script from SWAT’s performance at Take Back the Night, which addresses the rape culture which we all live in and contribute to. Rather than blaming administration, athletics or these individual players for the prevalence of sexual assault in our community, we must focus on the ways in which we can all change our behavior to create a safer campus.

Because you are such an active voice on campus and a primary source of information for many students, we would like to get on the same page. SWAT conducts educational workshops about sexual assault prevention and healthy sexual relationships, and we feel that this is something that may be appropriate for Emerald staff members if you continue write about these issues.

Sincerely,
Ruchi Mehta
Alexandrea Dionne
Lindsey Brown
Benjamin Davies
Emma Sharp
Emory Babb
Keaton Kell
Cassandra Smith
Brian Steveson
Ayasha Thurman
Patrick Verga
Leah Schluter
Nicholas Ian Rinehart
Whitney Logue
Sarah Nachbar