Loyola University • New Orleans • Volume 101 • Issue 07 • October 21, 2022
THE MAROON For a greater Loyola
NOPD lacks urgency; sexual assault victim speaks out By Macie Batson mmbatson@loyno.edu @maciembats
Students gather in the Loyola Horseshoe parking lot to honor surviviors of sexual assualt at the Take Back the Night event on Oct. 18. The event is organized by the worldwide organization against sexual assault. Gabrielle Korein/The Maroon
Students shine light on sexual violence By Abigail Schmidt acschmid@my.loyno.edu
Under a pink sky, Melanie Crockett told dozens gathered outside of Loyola’s red brick about years of childhood sex abuse that followed her into her 20s. Though Crockett, a member of the sexual assault prevention and health education department at Xavier University, stayed silent about her experience for most of her life, she said she recently decided to speak out. She hopes to inspire others to do the same. “College students can become victims at any given moment and need to be made aware that it is okay to speak up about it and against it,” Crockett said. Crockett’s words echoed Oct. 18 at the city’s annual Take Back the Night event hosted by Loyola’s Women’s Resource Center. After speakers discussed instances of global sexual violence, attendees lit candles together as a community to stand as “light in the darkness” of sexual violence,” Crockett said. They then marched through campus to Tulane University, where individual survivors there shared their stories and reminded those who were still struggling in the dark that they are not alone, and never at fault. “Telling someone saved my life,”
Pomelo celebrates one year anniversary page 5
Crockett said in her speech. “Speaking out started my healing process … and while I can’t say healing has been easy, it has been helpful.” Crockett added that she is now making it her mission to remove “the guilt, the blame, the shame, and the fear” that she and so many other victims of sexual and domestic violence have endured. Take Back the Night, the oldest worldwide organization against sexual violence, according to their website, brought out groups from Loyola University, Dillard University, Xavier University, among others to “stand in solidarity (with victims of sexual assault).” According to their website, the group does their part to “shatter the silence, stop the violence” and work to “end all forms of sexual violence.” After an opening prayer from Rev. Justin Daffron, S.J., Loyola’s interim university president, speakers discussed issues from all over the world, such as hijabs in Iran, war crimes of rape in Russia, femicide in South Africa, and flash mob protests in the United States. Kaitlyn Hockenberger, a New Orleans Health Department domestic violence prevention specialist, said at the event that “(gender violence) is something that affects everybody.” She said that her d e p a r t m e n t ,
which was one of many organizations tabling the event, connects community organizations with each other to educate people on domestic violence and sexual assault. She added that they put focus on resources for individuals who are impacted by these issues, and further work to put preventative measures in place. She said they teach about healthy relationships and appropriate ways to address and de-escalate problems. Dualsupport, like the New Orleans Health Department, was another organization at the event, and is a nonprofit that works to educate young women on what manipulation and toxicity in relationships look like. Sonjanita Jordan, Dualsupport’s CEO and founder, spoke at the event. She said that her organization brings awareness to different manipulative tactics that perpetrators of sexual and domestic abuse typically use to make their victims feel “crazy.” Jordan said that her goal is to help people know that, “when your heart’s been broken, you will make it through.” Dualsupport provides “a shoulder to cry on” for those who are hurting, Jordan said.
See NIGHT, page 3
State Senate race heats up page 5
It was October of 2019. A former Loyola student was out with her friends at a Halloween party when someone approached her and offered her a drink. She accepted it and woke up on the party’s filthy bathroom floor two hours later to the sound of her friends pounding on the door and finally barging in. She’d been raped and needed to act fast. She removed her underwear and placed them in a bag as evidence. She climbed into a friend’s car and drove to the hospital, ready to talk to the New Orleans Police Department about everything she didn’t even remember. It’s been three years, and she hasn’t heard from law enforcement since. “They say that murder takes your life, but rape takes your soul and leaves you alive,” the former Loyola student and sexual assault victim said. The New Orleans Police Department has attempted to fight its dwindling number of officers by acquiring additional allocations, employing civilians, and ultimately downgrading some rape cases to non-emergencies. Citizens enraged by the change in police were further outraged earlier this year when a New Orleans 2nd City Court constable in New Orleans ignored someone who reported a rape to him. This year, nearly 100 calls to report rape have been quickly downgraded, according to The Times-Picayune. Survivors are left waiting for police for hours, and they often leave before the police arrive. “Gone on arrival” Long wait times, along with NOPD reports filed as “gone on arrival,” have worried local politicians. Councilwoman Helena Moreno told WWL-TV she was concerned about the chance that these crimes may never be investigated, as well as worried about the emotional toll the delay has on rape victims. Additionally, the NOPD said that 73,000 DNA samples, many of which are rape kits, sit backlogged in the Louisiana State Police crime lab. Because of these setbacks, many survivors who report sexual assault are left with uninvestigated and unsolved crimes. The former Loyola student said she is outraged by the NOPD’s decision to downgrade rape and that she believes it demonstrates that the department does not care about survivors. “It shows a lack of respect for the thousands of people whose rape test kits have been backlogged,” she said. “It shows that the people who are sworn to serve and protect, aren’t going to protect you in possibly the scariest and most vulnerable moment of your life.” The Loyola alumnus said her rape kit is yet to be tested, though she said that the NOPD was first very responsive, taking in her evidence as well as all of the details of her case.
See ASSAULT, page 9
Cross country preview page 7