L&A: Keep your party guests entertained this Thanksgiving (Page 4)
Opinion: Sexual assault is a nationwide issue that shouldn’t be ignored (Page 4)
Sports: Perine’s big day silences Stoops rumors (Page 3)
The University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916
W W W.O U DA I LY.C O M
2 013 PA C E M A K E R F I N A L I S T
T U E S D A Y , N O V E M B E R 2 5 , 2 0 14
SEXUAL ASSAULT
Campus police report recent sexual assault University issues alerts only for cases that threaten students or employees JOEY STIPEK
Special Projects Editor @JoeyStipek
Norman students voice support for rape victims Protesters condemn school’s handling of cases discontentment with how Norman High School has handled the rape allegations and the distribution of video footage of one of the alleged incidents, organizers said. “The survivors were bullied out of the school,” said Over 30 percent of Norman High School’s students were Danielle Brown, a student organizer for the rally. “It wasn’t absent during their first hour class while a student-staged handled correctly. They didn’t feel safe, and they want to come back.” protest against how the school handled stuThe district received one bullying report dents’ rape allegations occurred across the related to the alleged assaults and immedistreet. ately responded to the report, according to Of the 1,992 enrolled at the school, 639 the press release. students were absent from their first hour The alleged assailant was suspended class. Of those, 273 students’ parents had for the remainder of the school year after given parental permission to the school, according to a press release by Norman Public We want to make sure school administrators became aware of a Schools after the protest. if this happens again, video he had taken during the alleged asaccording to the press release. As part of the walk-out protest, students it doesn’t get swept sault, Norman police are investigating the alsilently left their classrooms at 9:20 am under the rug.” leged sexual assaults, two of which reportand stood along Main Street across from edly happened off campus and the third the school in a crowd of hundreds, waving NICHOLAS NATHANIEL, signs and yelling chants like “No justice, no NORMAN HIGH STUDENT, FOUNDING at Norman High School, according to the peace” and “No means no.” MEMBER OF “YES, ALL DAUGHTERS” press release. Cleveland County District Attorney Greg The protest was organized after three girls Mashburn said he was aware of a possible at the school, who ranged in ages from 14 to 16, alleged that the same male classmate raped each during fourth victim who was allegedly assaulted by the same person about two years ago, The Associated Press reported. three separate incidents during the calendar year. No arrests have been made so far. Neither the alleged victims nor the alleged assailant are currently attending Norman High School. The protest’s purpose was to show the protesters’ SEE PROTEST PAGE 2
STEVEN ZOELLER
‘‘
Special Projects Reporter @StevenZoeller
Joey Stipek Joey.Stipek@gmail.com
Sexual assault cases reported to OU’s Title IX office since 2012
cases reported
STEVEN ZOELLER/THE DAILY
Members of the Norman community join students of Norman High School at a protest at Norman High Monday morning. Students walked out of the school after the school failed to sufficiently handle a sexual abuse case between students.
OU Police Department responded to a reported sexual assault at 4:19 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 7. The report by officer Doug Hersey listed the location of the incident as the 7th-floor west of Couch Tower, 1524 Asp Ave. The incident is listed as first degree rape with a criminal classification of forcible rape given on the report. No arrest has been made, and the case is still under investigation, OUPD spokesperson Maj. Bruce Chan said. Chan provided no further comments to The Daily about the case. According to the Clery Act, colleges and universities are required to issue timely warnings about crimes that pose a serious or ongoing threat to students and employees. The university’s policy says a timely warning is sent out if there is a threat to the campus at large, OU press secretary Corbin Wallace said. If university officials don’t see the incident as a threat to the community, no warning is issued. “Each case is assessed on a case by case basis under the Clery Act, and a timely warning is when a case fits that criteria,” Wallace said. No warning was issued about the Nov. 7 incident. Amy Buchanan, assistant director for marketing and communications for OU Housing and Food Services, said that Housing and Food Services staff and administrators report any assault to the appropriate campus departments, such as the Title IX office, Student Conduct and OUPD. From there, the student is informed of available programs and support services, as well as actions they can take, Buchanan said.
45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 years
39 30 22
2012
2013
2014*
*number reported as of August 2014
DONATION
Sooners overcome lost day to win Bedlam Blood Drive Over 700 donate blood over the course of the event, as OU makes up initial deficit
BY THE NUMBERS Bedlam Blood Drive
KATE BERGUM
914
873
702
692
Assistant News Editor @kateclaire_b
blood at OU
Though the Sooners and Cowboys have not yet faced off at the Bedlam game, OU has already triumphed over its rival in one respect. For the first time ever, OU has won the Fall Bedlam Blood Drive, according to an email from Linsday Hix, senior account manager for the Oklahoma Blood Institute. While 873 people from OSU signed up to donate blood, 914 people from OU signed up, putting OU in the lead by a margin of 41 people, Hix said. Of the students, faculty and community members that signed up, 702 people successfully donated blood at OU and 692 successfully donated at OSU, Hix said. Despite OU’s win, OSU led the competition throughout WEATHER Sunny today with a high of 55, low of 34. Follow @AndrewGortonWX on Twitter for weather updates.
People signed up to give
People sucessfully gave blood at OU
People signed up to give blood at OSU
People successfully gave blood at OSU
the week. OSU had nearly double the donors as OU on Tuesday night, with 307 donors to OU’s 155, partially due to the cancellation of OU’s blood drive Monday, according to Daily archives. By Thursday night, 653 people had donated for OSU and 630 donated for OU, according to the archives. The fact that OU was able to pull ahead in the drive after missing a day’s worth of potential donors is remarkable, Hix YA JIN/THE DAILY said. An Oklahoma Blood Institute staff member prepares to draw blood SEE BLOOD PAGE 2 from a donating student.
CONTACT US
INDEX
@OUDaily
News......................2 Classifieds................3 Life&Ar ts..................4 Opinion.....................4 Spor ts........................3
theoklahomadaily
OUDaily
VOL. 100, NO. 69 © 2014 OU Publications Board FREE — Additional copies 25¢