April 14, 2010
President Kerwin on the Eagle article

Dialogue on Sexual Assault

I want to acknowledge the challenges our community faced in the wake of a provocative column in the March 31 Eagle on the topic of date rape. Our community exchanged views on this incident in a manner that reflects the value we place on civil discourse. Through dialogue, exchanges of opinion, and discussion forums, several principles were affirmed—among them, that sexual assault in all its forms and circumstances (including date rape) is a crime and a violation of AU’s Student Conduct Code; and that the First Amendment protects the right to share viewpoints, even when they may be hurtful or insensitive. Date rape victims/survivors were personally affected and many were deeply offended by the column’s words. The Eagle editors have acknowledged they could have made different editorial choices that would have avoided the harm without compromising First Amendment rights. The editors should be commended for acknowledging their mistakes, listening carefully to criticisms, and responding thoughtfully. It is important to remind everyone that we have many resources, programs, and services designed to educate, prevent sexual assault, support victims/survivors, and prosecute or adjudicate offenders. We have a Student Conduct Code that is being revised during this academic year to deal more effectively with adjudicating sexual assault charges. In addition, one year ago, we approved a budget for a Women’s Resource Center that will open in fall 2010 and serve as a clearinghouse for these and other resources, programs, and services. For more information on these resources, please see the materials on the Web site (www.american.edu/ocl/vp/Virtual-Womens-Center.cfm).

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April 7, 2010
Date Rape, Alex Knepper, is Rape – With or Without Alcohol, No Matter What…

Alex Knepper is an articulate young man.  Few would want to face him on an opposing debate team…  He has a way of twisting words to make what he is really saying into something else, and I think most people would have a tough time arguing against his points.  This doesn’t mean that he is right.  Not even close.…

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April 7, 2010
The Philosophist :: Empty Rhetoric: Free Speech for the College Republicans

“With due consideration to his sense of humor, Alex Knepper is an ass. While there is a coherent point buried in here somewhere - young women who do not want to have sex should not put themselves in potentially dangerous situations - it is so deeply entangled in strawmen and sarcasm as to be totally inaccessible. It’s not surprising that this column pissed people off - it was specifically designed to.”

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April 6, 2010
Men Can Stop Rape - Date Rape is a Crime, Not an "Incoherent Concept" (Press Release)

Here are five things men can do to prevent date rape

  1. Does kissing mean that a person wants to have sex? How do you know? When a situation is unclear, asking before you act will ensure safe and healthy sex for everyone.
  2. Accept when consent is withdrawn. Even after a person has given their consent, that person can withdraw it at any time. We all deserve the right to change our minds.
  3. If a person is drunk or high and can’t give consent, back off and wait until you both are sober.
  4. You’ve heard of designated drivers. Now use the same principle to prevent rape. At a party, designate someone among your group of friends to keep an eye on a guy that might be behaving in ways that could lead to sexual violence.
  5. You probably will never see a rape in progress, but you will hear attitudes and see behaviors that degrade women and promote a culture of violence. When your friend tells a rape joke, let him know it’s not funny.

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April 6, 2010
Date-Rape Columnist Adds Race To His Conversational Repetoire - Alex knepper - Jezebel

Alex Knepper’s claim that“date rape is an incoherent concept”continues to make waves, this time with an interview in which he says people of color are anti-gay, but at least smart enough not to get raped.

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April 6, 2010
Knepper’s “date rape” equation doesn’t add up | The Daily Illini

There was one thing Knepper didn’t point out in his column, titled “Dealing with AU’s anti-sex brigade.” He doesn’t drink. In a column published in the fall of last year, Knepper said he does not drink to get drunk and condemned binge-drinking fellow students for their social insecurities that can only be mollified with their “escapist recreation.” Clearly, Knepper has no personal experience to gauge the potential level of confusion and recklessness associated with heavy drinking. Someone under the influence of alcohol might be more likely to engage in behaviors that are uncharacteristic. But rape is still never the fault of a victim.

…

The Alex Knepper method of consent no doubt makes it a whole lot easier for a man to feel he has received “permission” for sex – all it takes is getting a girl to step foot inside his room. The equation here (girl plus alcohol plus boy’s room equals consensual sex) just doesn’t add up. And what happens when you throw in date rape drugs? The argument that “because you drink, you will be (and perhaps should be) assaulted” is absolutely wrong. Consent should be defined as a sober “yes,” without pressure, fear or intimidation. A “yes” in any other circumstance cannot be called “consent.”

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April 5, 2010
Myth Busting: False Rape Reports | American Way of Life Magazine

Last week, Alex Knepper’s column generated a buzz on campus and around the country. While many read the piece as an irresponsible condonation of sexual assault, others argued that it was merely identifying an age-old truth: some women routinely get drunk, have sex, and then “cry rape” the next morning because they regret their actions. When CBSinterviewed Knepper, he claimed that “thousands” of men suffer from false rape reports. Unfortunately, just as The Eagle was negligent in ensuring that Knepper was writing a responsible piece, CBS also failed to set the record straight with fact-checking legwork. Thus, both media outlets irresponsiblyprovided Knepper with an opportunity to perpetuate long-standing — and untrue — myths about high percentages of false rape reports. And based on hundreds of online comments, it’s evident that many students fervently believe these myths.

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April 5, 2010
The New Gay » A Conversation with Alex Knepper

Characterized well by a commenter:

“A much more interesting look at Knepper’s ideas–apparently based entirely on a combination of ideas almost exclusively from the 18th century or earlier, and his own contradictory politics (his greatest support comes from racial minorities ‘used to living in a world of risks,’ he says…only to complain later that they are ‘overwhelmingly anti-gay’). Stereotyping racial minorities and defining ‘the metaphysical nature of the female’ in a sentence or two is neither impressive nor is it productive for anybody’s ‘empowerment.’ Thanks for the fresh discussion.”

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April 5, 2010
Reviving the "date rape" debate - Broadsheet - Salon.com

I suspect that what Knepper is trying to suggest is that sometimes young women head into a situation like a frat party with the intention of drinking away their inhibitions and getting a little wild, and then they wake up the next morning and feel a little embarrassed or regretful and they call it “date rape.” It’s a convenient straw-woman, because of course it isn’t acceptable for women to decide that it was rape simple because they aren’t happy with their choice the next morning. But what feminists are most often talking about when they talk about date rape are situations where a guy forces himself on a woman after she makes it clear she doesn’t want to go any further or where she’s drunk to the point of incapacitation — in other words, we aren’t talking about someone making a poor, regrettable decision, we’re talking about someone being incapable of making a decision.

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April 5, 2010
clawbeatskin's livejournal

I just have to say that I’m really tired of (mostly conservative) people crying “censorship! fascism!” if someone calls them out on oppressive behavior and asks for accountability. I’m really tired of the amount of ignorance and entitlement espoused by people constantly downplaying rape by grasping at straws of assuming the authority to distinguish between real and not-real rape, bringing up the incidence of false rape claims, labeling survivors and allies and all women as ‘emotionally crippled’ (ie. too sensitive), and trying to intellectualize some convoluted idea of the supposed inequality of consent (one which is false, by the way), all to avoid actually taking a step back and analyzing issues of privilege and oppression in our society.

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