Missler, ’98, dies after car accident

By Spenser Hickey

Managing Editor

Ryan Missler (Aug. 23, 1975 - Aug. 9, 2014) in his Hall of Fame photo. Image courtesy of OWU Athletics. — Ryan Missler (Aug. 23, 1975 – Aug. 9, 2014) in his Hall of Fame photo. Image courtesy of OWU Athletics.

The Ohio Wesleyan community lost Athletics Hall of Famer Ryan Missler ’98 on August 9 following a car accident on Route 33 in Dublin, Ohio. He was 38.

Missler started on Ohio Wesleyan’s baseball team for three years and after graduation played two years in the independent minor leagues; he joined the Hall of Fame in 2008.

“He was one of the most outstanding baseball players that Ohio Wesleyan ever had,” said Roger Ingles, current Athletic Director and Missler’s coach on the baseball team.

“…He was just an outstanding player, outstanding person and everybody looked up to him. He was a leader on and off the field.”

Jodi Andes, Dublin Police Department spokeswoman, said the accident remains under investigation but did not have further details at this time.

In his time at OWU, Missler played third base and shortstop, earning the Player of the Year award from the North Coast Athletic Conference his senior year. He led the NCAC in batting average at .485, fourth best in OWU history, and set the OWU record for most home runs in a season.

That year, the Bishops defeated Ohio State’s baseball team 10-7 in the Buckeyes’ first home game; Missler had two home runs in the game.

“He was easily the best player on the field and they (Ohio State) were Big Ten champs that year so I think that tells you what kind of caliber of player he was,” Ingles said.

In his junior year, he was named to the All-NCAC first team, having been a nominee for that selection sophomore year, tying for fourth on OWU’s list of most runs batted in during a season.

His three year career batting average of .400 was fifth-highest in OWU history and he tied the home run record at 27.

Following his time in the minor leagues, Missler worked alongside his brother Aaron as vice presidents of the family business, Missler’s Irrigation, based out of Dublin; their father Mike is president.

“After he graduated, he played in our golf outing every single year, he and his father and brother,” Ingles said.

“Their irrigation company did a lot of work on campus…he’s one of those guys that you get as a coach that’s kind of a once in a lifetime person. He’s just going to be missed by a lot of people, our thoughts are with his family.”

The restless dreamer takes on the world

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A key point of OWU graduate Morgan Treni’s musical development was forgetting to do her homework.

Treni, class of 2012, was taking a creative writing course with professor Michelle Disler and got her paper’s due date confused. Instead of turning it in, she ran to her dorm room, grabbed her guitar and ran back to her classroom.

“(I) sat down on the floor of the classroom and I said, ‘I’m just going to sing this one,’ and I sang it and then I ran out of the classroom,” Treni said. “(Disler) came up afterwards and she grabbed my elbow and she said, ‘That was slick but it was smart and you’re a songwriter.’”

Treni credits Disler’s guidance with helping her grow as a “musical essayist,” as Disler called it, and realize her own creativity.

Her creativity reached new heights with the release of her first album, “The Dreamer and Other Essays,” after her second appearance at the annual Community Festival (Comfest) on June 28. But she makes it clear the production was definitely not a solo effort.

“This album is dedicated to (Disler) because she really helped me find my way,” Treni said.

Morgan Treni '12 holds her CD at the Columbus Community Festival following her performance. Photo by Spenser Hickey, — Morgan Treni ’12 holds her CD at the Columbus Community Festival following her performance. Photo by Spenser Hickey.

While Treni had played trumpet before entering OWU and originally planned to be a trumpet major, she soon shifted away from that. She tried the guitar, sang a cappella in the Owtsiders and wrote her first song as a freshman sitting outside Hayes Hall, she said with a laugh. She then shied away from studying music, looking towards business and focusing on the small sports store she helped run. Treni found OWU’s program was more focused on economics than business, and while she enjoyed business her mind is better suited to visuals than numbers. “I felt really lost,” she said. But thanks to Ohio Wesleyan’s liberal arts requirements she would soon find her home in creative writing, as she was required to take three writing courses. “The gentleman I was dating at the time recommended (the course) Writing Essays and so I went and that’s where I met Dr. Disler,” she said. “And for a year and a half she said, ‘Come be an English major, you’re a writer, be an English major.’” Treni eventually did become an English major. While she first thought she had too much energy to sit and read books, that soon changed. “It’s incredible what happened, in a very small amount of time books became my best friend and writing became my art and when I graduated I started singing that art and thus grew the songwriting,” she said. Even while she was at OWU, her reading, particularly on philosophy, often led directly to her music, although not always in university-approved ways. “I was a very late night studier at Beeghly Library and I was reading really heavy theory books, critical theory books, and I would stay up past when Beeghly closed, in the cafe,” she said. One night her junior year, Treni stayed up so late she saw the mailman delivering newspapers to Hamilton-Williams Campus Center. She then noticed and that he didn’t lock the door behind him completely. “I would go over and break in at 4:30 in the morning and play the piano before any of the maintenance people were there and I would leave at about 5:30 and go back to studying,” she said. “…They ended up catching on to my trick and locking the door. So I have a very special relationship with Beeghly Library and with that piano in Hamwill. I did some of my first concerts there.”

Treni sings one of the songs from her CD, although she said her vocal and piano performance was "a shell" of the overall music. Photo by Spenser Hickey — Treni sings one of the songs from her CD, although she said her vocal and piano performance was “a shell” of the overall music. Photo by Spenser Hickey

After graduation, she decided to pursue songwriting while also working at a Yamaha piano dealership in Columbus. She later move there from Delaware and eventually left the dealership in February to focus fully on her music. “With all the focus that’s where other opportunities have opened to me,” she said. And she’s had quite a few opportunities, singing in the jazz orchestra of her mentor Vaughn Wiester and being asked to do recording demos for several local songwriters, including a few who approached her after ComFest. She even had a song used as part of a film soundtrack, although it was one produced as part of a Columbus filmmaker’s competition. “I feel very blessed for how well-received everything is developing,” she said. Several of her songs related to her time at Ohio Wesleyan, but none as much as ‘Delaware’, written and practiced those early mornings. [youtube id=”xR8vjqEusnQ”] As a whole, she structured the album like a musical book, complete with a table of contents on the back of the CD case. First, naturally, is ‘Prologue’, although that wasn’t the song’s original title. “It was called ‘Resume,’ kinda the introduction you have for businesses and employment so this is mine to the world and the music community,” she said. Next comes ‘The Dreamer,’ which she wrote in the midst of being told that making it in music was nearly impossible. “I said, ‘Well, I’m going to be kind, I’m going to be loving, I’m going to work hard and failure is not an option,” she said. ‘Fishbowl,’ the third song on the ten-track CD, was written while she worked at a Yamaha piano dealership in Columbus. “I sat down at (the piano) and ‘Fishbowl’ came out,” she said. “I couldn’t be inside, I need to be outside ‒ I have so much energy it’s combusting.” Other songs included ‘Mr. Carroll,’ inspired by her thesis paper on Lewis Carroll and ‘Open Road,’ written on the way to work at a farm in Marysville, Ohio where she milked a cow after graduation.

Treni stands next to the 'Solar Stage' sign after performance; she debuted at ComFest last year, also on the Solar Stage. — Treni stands next to the ‘Solar Stage’ sign after performance; she debuted at ComFest last year, also on the Solar Stage.

The CD took around eight months and $8,000 to produce, although the funding relied on significant community support ‒ Treni used a Kickstarter campaign to raise $3,500. “(I marketed the Kickstarter) kinda the same way that I’ve been doing everything with this business,” she said. “I love people and the joy of this music for me has been bringing people into my life to be on board with my passion, so I wrote to friends, I sent emails individually to students, to faculty, I performed – I was performing three nights a week at every open mic night I could find to gain support, creating newsletters and it just all came together by faith and good people.” She received donations from 77 online supporters and between 20 and 30 in person; different levels of support received different gifts. Everyone who gave received a handwritten letter ‒ “(I got a) little carpal tunnel,” she joked ‒ and a copy of the CD. A donation of $40 got a signed copy of the CD; $100 got two CDs and Morgan Treni coasters. While she sang all the songs on the CD, they all feature instrumentals by a variety of musicians, including Treni’s father. Morgan’s sister Ashley also helped, designing the cover, and helped drive her to Comfest from their home in New Jersey. While she calls Columbus her home base, Treni recently moved back to the greater New York City area, which offers many more opportunities ‒ although she’ll be back at the end of July for a show at the Brothers Drake Meadery in Columbus, a frequent venue for her performances over the past year. “Columbus is home base, I have incredible relationships here,” she said. “I drew a lot of support from this area here and I was excited to bring the CD, everybody’s been waiting really patiently for this album to come together and it was exciting how this ComFest weekend perfectly placed itself as the piece of the equation for that to happen.”

She may not know what exactly comes next, but that’s not going to get in her way. “It’s hard to say (where I’ll end up,)” she said. “Definitely singing in many places. To coin an OWU phrase, the world is my oyster ‒ there’s a lot of ears, there’s a lot of stages and I’m very excited to meet people and other musicians, artists.” “…I love to travel, and I love people and I love being creative and so without a doubt I’m going to go all over the world.” It may be awhile before she’s traveling the world, but she only sees good things down the road. “We’re still on the incline, everything’s been a high point, it’s a journey,” Treni said when asked what the high point of her work has been. “Last year (at ComFest) was really special because it was my first music festival to play,” she did note. To be booked she had to compete with 600 other local acts; only 250 got to perform. “It’s definitely competitive,” she said. “I feel very grateful for the opportunity again this year and with my own space, there’s a lot of talent in Columbus, a lot of talented musicians and certainly artists, (Comfest)’s a great thing to be part of.” “I would say it was a little more comfortable this time around because I knew the stage…but I was a little under the weather for the last couple of days so I was nervous about how well I’d perform but it was family, so it was just special.”

Allen West’s ‘Magic Islam’ idea may be funny, but it’s dangerous

By Spenser Hickey

Managing Editor

Last week, as the far right’s spin machine revved up to try to create a controversy out of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s return from Taliban captivity, one particular statement stood out for it’s ridiculousness.

Allen West was a member of the House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013; before that he was a US Army Lieutenant Colonel until he left the service after his subordinates beat an Iraqi policeman for information and West threatened to shoot him, according to his own statements in military trial proceedings.

West is now a contributor on Fox News and a prominent Tea Party personality, and through that capacity he’s spreading the strangest aspect of this manufactured Bergdahl controversy — in addition to five Guantanamo prisoners, this trade cost the United States the White House.

Last Monday, West said he’d been sent a “bombshell” email by a friend who was a CIA officer. During the press conference, Bob Bergdahl’s first words were in Arabic, West writes, even though even the video West provided shows he began in English before switching to Arabic, as his son has difficulty with English after five years in captivity.

“Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim,” Bergdahl said; in English it means “In the name of God, the gracious, most compassionate” and is a common saying in Islam, kind of like “Our Father, who art in heaven.”

That’s what it means, but that’s not what Allen West thinks. No, this was an apparently motiveless ploy by Bob Bergdahl to “claim and sanctify” the White House for Islam, and he pulled it off, apparently with the President’s knowledge. (Surprisingly, The Onion had no part in this idea — here’s a link to see for yourself: http://goo.gl/3shHds.)

Well, damn. Guess we should’ve taken last year’s ‘Invasion of the White House’ movies more seriously, huh? Who knew all it really took was one phrase being spoken on the White House grounds? The President, apparently — thanks, Obama.

Except that’s where, even if you believe the ‘Obama is a Muslim’ extremist conspiracy which seems to be part of this latest one, it doesn’t make sense. What good is placing a secret Muslim in the White House if he has to wait five years to bring someone else to claim it for Islam? You’d think, in this capture-the-flag-esque world West seems to believe we live in, Obama could’ve just taken the oath of office in 2009 and then immediately dropped this magic phrase and outlawed Christianity or something. Checkmate, freedom.

But of course, this is all ludicrous. Arabic, while a beautiful language to listen to, doesn’t have magic powers. President Obama’s not a Muslim, not there’d be anything wrong with him if he was, and as far as I know neither is Bob Bergdahl. He’s just a father who wanted to bring his son home and try to understand why he was in captivity.

And while West’s wild theory would be hilarious, it’s really one of the more unusual manifestations of our cultural Islamophobia that’s festered throughout the War on Terror.

And that brings me to another recent news story, one that did not make national news. As Colorlines and a Virginia ABC affiliate reported last week, the Fairfax County Muslim-American community is outraged after an alleged hate crime on May 20.

The accused man, Patrick Sullivan, who like the victim works for the government, became outraged because the victim dared talk on the phone with his wife in his native Bengali, rather than English like he was apparently supposed to. Sullivan then allegedly attacked the man — whose name was not included in the news reports — and threatened to throw him from the train they were on. When a conductor tried to intervene, Sullivan said he thought the man might have had a bomb. All this because of the language the man spoke.

So while West’s preposterous theories about Arabic having magical powers to claim buildings for Islam may sound funny at first, they can have serious implications. A future hate crime perpetrator, for example, could easily say he was defending the train from being taken for Islam.

Similar arguments were used to block an Islamic cultural center from being built in New York City, on the grounds that it would be a disgrace to those lost in 9/11 — even though there already was a mosque closer to Ground Zero, and it wouldn’t have been a disgrace to them anyway.

Yes, we lost almost 3,000 people on 9/11, but the real way to disgrace those lost would be to use their names and memories to oppress and target innocent Muslim-Americans who had nothing to do with the attacks. Sadly in many cases that’s what happened.

Hate crimes against Muslim-Americans and those perceived to be Muslim-American spiked in the months after 9/11, profiling and targeted surveillance became accepted practices, and in the most well-known example of religious and racial xenophobia six Sikh-Americans were murdered in August 2012 by a white supremacist who’d discussed a coming “racial holy war.”

Targeting Americans who are lumped in with foreign enemies abroad is a long-standing unfortunate national tradition – it happened to German-Americans in World War I; Japanese-Americans in World War II; Russian- and Eastern European-Americans in the Cold War and Asian-Americans during Korea and Vietnam. But if we really want to use such lofty terms as “land of the free” or “greatest nation on earth” we must do better than allowing that fear and intolerance.

While we fight a global war on terror, we must not allow terror to be accepted here at home, and that’s what statements like West’s can encourage, by demonizing and other-ing Muslims and Arabic speakers as having these bizarre powers to claim buildings — ridiculous though that idea may be, it still needs to be challenged.

No matter what faith, if any, we have we must stand together against these forces of bigotry and fear that threaten a community because of who they are, their beliefs or their language. Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim, I hope that all Muslim-Americans, as well as the Bergdahl family, can find peace and acceptance in this country, which is their nation as well.

Spenser Hickey is a member of Ohio Wesleyan’s Unitarian Universalist community.

Citizens, soldiers alike must take on sexual violence

Space Race of the 1960s, when astronauts and aviators were national heroes, and hearing about it was a big part of my childhood.

He was also loved to see the Air Force’s acrobatics squadron, and naturally father-son rivalry meant I sided with their rivals, the Navy’s Blue Angels.

So when I read last week that their former commander, Greg McWherter, is facing allegations that he allowed sexual misconduct and harassment while leading the Blue Angels, I was disappointed but not very surprised.

I should note that there are a number of Blue Angels, including the only female member, who defend him and that the investigation is ongoing. But at the same time the Navy viewed it as serious enough to relieve him of his current position, and given the ongoing epidemic of sexual misconduct in the American military, it’d be naïve to think any unit would be exonerated — even my favorite.

It’s a sad irony that McWherter was also president of the Tailhook Association until April 25, when he resigned to avoid being distracted from his duties by the inquiry.

At the Tailhook Association’s 1991 convention in Las Vegas, several dozen women were forced to run down a crowded hallway of male pilots, who groped them at will.

Without the scandal, which the Washington Post said may be the worst in the Navy’s history, it’s questionable that this incident or the fact that over 25,000 members of our armed services were targets of sexual assault and misconduct in 2012, according to the Pentagon, would have made national news.

At the Tailhook convention, the top brass said there was no tolerance for sexual assault in the military. It’s the same thing they’ve been saying over the past year, as renewed attention and Congressional inquiries bring the spotlight back onto sexual assault in the military.

Last June, I wrote a column on the two plans being introduced to combat military sexual assault. It’s May now, and Congress is still debating. Worse, the general consensus is in favor of the weaker plan, which leaves disciplinary authority to military personnel, a system that has failed time and time again.

It’s not all bad, though. A number of laws and government efforts are being introduced to reduce sexual assault in general. The most prominent is focused on us — college students.

Throughout the past year, university after university has come under fire and even federal investigation for mishandling and misreporting sexual assaults that occur on and around their campus.

These include op academic schools like Yale and Dartmouth and athletic powerhouses like Florida State University, where Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston was accused of sexual assault.

Local police cleared Winston, but an April 16 New York Times report found many irregularities in their handling of the case, and noted that the investigating officer has also worked for a nonprofit booster organization that’s the lead donor for Florida State athletics.

Thankfully, I can say that from my professional experience, there are effective means to promote reporting of sexual assaults to authorities in Delaware. I’ve spent the better part of the semester researching statistics on sexual assault in Delaware from 2000 to 2012, and while numbers of reports were over three times the national average, interviews with academics, activists, advocates and police attributed this to the positive efforts of the Delaware Sexual Assault Response Team.

As professor and criminologist John Durst noted, though, from a survivor’s perspective any number is too high.

Having seen the reports, even in more aggregated forms, I have seen that there are truly haunting stories within them, but the stories are not mine to share.

Even with such great reporting structures, we may never be able to end sexual violence entirely, but we should never stop fighting.

Police investigate assault at Chi Phi

Senior Anthony Peddle was stabbed at the Chi Phi fraternity house early Saturday morning.

By Spenser Hickey

Managing Editor

Ohio Wesleyan senior Anthony Peddle, class president, is recovering after being stabbed Saturday in his fraternity house by an unknown assailant.

A Delaware Police Department report made available to Transcript staff Sunday at 10:54 a.m. describes the attack as “felonious assault” and lists no information on potential suspects.

Capt. Adam Moore of the Delaware Police Department said Monday morning that detectives continue to work the case.

“(They) have spoken with several witnesses,” he said in an email. “We have also talked with a ‘person of interest’ but there have been no charges filed or arrest made. Some evidence has been collected that will require additional testing.”

The incident occurred at 3:36 a.m. Saturday, May 3, according to an advisory sent out to students at 6:15 a.m. by the university’s Public Safety.

Following the incident, Peddle was transported from the fraternity – Chi Phi, at 216 North Franklin Street – to Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center for treatment.

“Witnesses report seeing a male suspect in either a blue or green hoodie who fled on foot,” the advisory said.

“There is no sign of a forced entry. No one else was injured, and no additional details are available at this time.”

The advisory did not identify the student who was stabbed, but at 5:02 p.m. Ohio Wesleyan’s President Rock Jones did in a email to the community.

Jones’ update said Peddle was “in good spirits” and had undergone surgery for injuries to his hand. He also said the university had been assisted by the Delaware City Police Department, who secured the house following the attack.

The members of Chi Phi were also supported by OWU staff from Student Affairs, Residential Life, Public Safety and the Chaplain’s Office following the incident.

“The health and safety of our students is of vital importance,” Jones said, informing students that Counseling Services and the Chaplain’s Office would be open to students on Sunday.

“Incidents such as this are rare, and they impact us deeply when they occur,” Jones said at the end of his message.

“They make us especially thankful for each other and the supportive Delaware community. We will continue to remain in close contact with Anthony and his family to help with whatever needs arise.”

This post was updated at 10:44 a.m. Monday May 5 to include comment from Capt. Adam Moore.

UPDATE: Pres. Jones Discusses Stabbing Incident

At 5:02 p.m., University President Rock Jones sent an email to the Ohio Wesleyan community on this morning’s stabbing, including the name of the victim – senior Anthony Peddle of Chi Phi – and that he is in “good spirits.” The text is below:

Dear Members of the OWU Family,

I am writing to update you about senior Anthony Peddle, who was injured this morning at the Chi Phi fraternity house. I have visited with him and his family in Columbus, and I am pleased to report that he is in good spirits. He has undergone surgery for injuries to his hand, and he is recovering. I share this news with his approval.

I also write to thank everyone who has worked, and continues to work, to support the Chi Phi brothers and other affected students. This long thank-you list includes the Delaware City Police Department, which continues to investigate the incident. The Police Department was instrumental in securing the house, located more than a half mile from campus, and in helping the University to determine that a campuswide lockdown was not required.

Thanks also to the OWU staff from Student Affairs, Residence Life, Public Safety, and the Chaplain’s Office who helped to feed and counsel students at the Chi Phi house this morning and who worked with faculty to rearrange final exams for those unable to take scheduled tests. It is during such times that OWU shows the true quality of its character and the depth and breadth of the care and support we have for one another.

The health and safety of our students is of vital importance. In addition to the immediate, on-site counseling provided at Chi Phi, we will have Counseling Services and Chaplain’s Office representatives available from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday for anyone who wishes assistance. They also will be available during regular hours throughout exam week. To support a safe and secure environment, OWU Public Safety officers continue to patrol campus 24/7 and to encourage everyone to share issues and concerns whenever they arise.

As you know, incidents such as this are rare, and they impact us deeply when they occur. They make us especially thankful for each other and the supportive Delaware community. We will continue to remain in close contact with Anthony and his family to help with whatever needs arise. Thank you again for all you do to make Ohio Wesleyan a family and a home.

Delaware Police Issue Statement on Stabbing

The Delaware Police Department has issued a press release on the stabbing incident that occurred at approximately 3:36 this morning. From DPD:

Police Investigate Overnight Stabbing Incident

DELAWARE – The Delaware Police Department in currently on scene investigating a stabbing incident at Chi Phi Fraternity house, 216 N. Franklin Street, Delaware.

The Delaware County Communications Center received a call at approximately 3:36 am requesting police and medical assistance for a reported stabbing. When officers arrived, they discovered an injured adult Ohio Wesleyan University student. The student was airlifted to the Ohio State University Medical Center for treatment.

An investigation is ongoing; police continue to interview the victim and witnesses to identify potential suspects.

Here is the initial email from Public Safety and the University:

Delaware City Police are investigating the stabbing of an Ohio Wesleyan student inside the Chi Phi fraternity house at 216 North Franklin Street. The student has been transported to The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center for treatment. No condition is available at this time. The incident occurred at 3:36 a.m. today. Witnesses report seeing a male suspect in either a blue or green hoodie who fled on foot. There is no sign of a forced entry. No one else was injured, and no additional details are available at this time. Ohio Wesleyan is cooperating in the investigation. The University will provide an update when additional details are known.

The Invisible Safety Net

How the Delaware community supports its rape survivors

By Spenser Hickey
Managing Editor

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Delaware Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics show that over half the violent crimes reported in Delaware from 2000 to 2012 were rape.

According to criminologist John Durst, Ph.D., this should be a startling statistic. But it’s not one that he’s surprised by – he thinks the numbers likely show that Delaware has a higher level of reporting than other areas.

“We tend to get a lot of reports, and I don’t think that’s because there’s more sexual assault going on in Delaware,” said Delaware Police Chief Bruce Pijanowski.

Former Chief Russell Martin, now Delaware County Sheriff, said he wasn’t alarmed by the data.

“I always believe when your community has confidence in your response to sexual assault, more people are going to report,” he said.

“…We felt confident that people were reporting because they trusted their local police.”

FBI statistics show that from 2000 to 2012, Delaware’s forcible rape reports were 3.3 times the national average and 2.7 times the state average per 100,000 residents. Calculating crimes in terms of 100,000 residents eliminates statistical disparity caused by population size, but the classification of “forcible rape” used by the FBI was narrower than that of Delaware police.

“I would be skeptical of a community that said they didn’t have a sexual assault problem because then I would be concerned whether they’re not encouraging people to come forward and report and investigate and prosecute those matters,” Martin said.

Reported violent crimes in Delaware from 2000 to 2012. Statistics from FBI and Delaware Police. Graphic by Spenser Hickey

“Given HelpLine intervention, Wesleyan, (and a) pretty educated populace, you’re going to get more people willing to go through the rape kit, whole nine yards, in terms of assaulted persons,” said Durst, an associate professor of sociology at Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU).

Still, any sexual assault case is a horrible experience, he added.

“Just because we’re doing some sort of numerical, statistical comparing, whatever the comparative situation for Delaware, from a victim’s perspective it’s too many.”

– John Durst, Criminologist

The highest year for rape statistics during the period was 2008, when the 61 reports made up 63.54 percent of all violent crimes in the city. Durst said he was hesitant to draw conclusions from the changes in annual rape statistics, though.

337 other sexual assaults – including gross sexual imposition, sexual imposition, sexual battery, unlawful conduct with a minor and attempted rape – were reported to Delaware Police from 2000 to 2012.

“Approximately one in three women experience sexual assault in their lifetimes, so I would say that we’re not necessarily seeing that more sexual assaults are happening in Delaware, rapes specifically, but again higher reporting, which I would consider a positive attribution of our community,” said Richelle Schrock, Ph.D., director of the women’s and gender studies program at Ohio Wesleyan.

“Higher numbers could indicate that the systems are providing a supportive response to encourage victims to come forward and report these crimes,” said Katie Hanna, Executive Director of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence.

“By creating a culture that believes survivors and promoting a system that holds offenders accountable, we may see more survivors coming forward to report.”

The Reporting Process

“Most sexual assaults are perpetrated by someone known to the victim,” Hanna said. “Whether it’s a partner, family member, neighbor or friend, these factors make reporting challenging.”

In Delaware, the police have a long history of working to make the reporting and investigation process as streamlined as possible for to help survivors, according to Chief Pijanowski and former Chief Martin.

Linda Black, Police Chief from 2001-2004, could not be reached for comment.

Creation of the Sexual Assault Response Team, which brings together law enforcement, hospital staff, HelpLine survivor advocates, the County Prosecutor and the current County Department of Job and Family Services, began in 1993 or 1994, according to Martin, then a Detective-Sergeant with the Delaware Police Department.

Hanna praised this type of team structure.

“By working collaboratively with rape crisis centers, law enforcement, prosecutors and child advocacy centers, we can support survivors on their path to healing.”

– Katie Hanna, Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence

“I think that (team) began handling those cases even in a more thorough, sensitive way than they’d been done prior to that,” Martin said.

Pijanowski said that the streamlined system makes it easier for survivors to share their experience and lessen the impact it has.

“Going through the criminal justice system…they just keep reliving it,” he said. Before, the responding officer would take a statement, detectives would ask more detailed questions, as would hospital staff, and then prosecutors would run through questions before the trial.

“There were so many times it was coming up,” Pijanowski said.

When reports are made, Pijanowski said detectives must balance the needs of the survivor and ensuring public safety – a “thin line.”

“When you have a sexual assault, you have a survivor of sexual assault who has been victimized in ways that you and I have no comprehension.”

– Bruce Pijanowski, Delaware Police Chief

However in the event of a perpetrator who posed an ongoing threat to the general public’s safety, having the existing support coalition is very beneficial.

“The last thing we want to do is have a survivor come into us and say this happened, I don’t want to prosecute, I don’t want to do anything and we say ‘Well it’s too bad, we’re going to do it,’” he said.

Martin said that the coalition system establishes community trust which leads to more reports due to discussions among survivors.

In one instance, a child survivor described her positive experience working with the police to a friend, who then disclosed that she too had been sexually assaulted, according to Martin.

“You might get an increase in reports but a lot of times we feel that’s because we’ve established a good reputation with the community,” he said.

When reports are made involving child survivors of sexual abuse, detectives have to be very careful, according to Pijanowski.

“(Children) think differently and you have to be really really careful not to plant an idea in their mind, not to lead them or suggest an answer in your question,” he said.

When interviewing children on the exact details of an assault, detectives have to know what the children mean and be sure they know, he said, and so receive specific training to investigate such cases.

When children become involved in the court system as a victim of abuse, neglect or dependency they often receive assistance from Delaware County’s Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA.)

CASA Coordinator Anne Konarski is also involved in the county-level effort to combat sexual assault.

“We work with all abuse, neglect and dependency cases that come from Delaware County Juvenile Court so we’ll take any sex abuse case that happens, it doesn’t matter if it’s interfamily or not,” Konarski said.

“…It’s just more likely for us to get a case with someone that the person knows because that’s more likely to happen.”

CASA volunteers work to guide children through the civil court process and ensure their basic needs are being met. For sexual assault survivors, this includes ensuring they receive therapy to cope with the trauma.

A “fantastic resource” in knowing how to help a child is the Child Assessment Center in Columbus, Konarski said.

There, children are interviewed by a trained forensic interviewer while a prosecutor and police officer watch from another room so the survivor doesn’t have to repeat the process. They also conduct a complete social-medical history and doctor’s exam to determine the extent of the abuse.

“They do a great evaluation and then we get copies of it (to use in our role as legal advocates),” Konarski said.

Holding the Line

Ohio Wesleyan Professor Richelle Schrock listed the presence of HelpLine of Delaware and Morrow Counties in the center of the city as a resource that increases reporting. HelpLine provides crisis support and referral services and is a rape crisis center, offering services to sexual assault survivors through the Sexual Assault Response Network (SARN).

“Most people know HelpLine from our 24/7 crisis line,” said Nancy Radcliffe, Director of Sexual Assault Services at Delaware HelpLine.

HelpLine supports survivors through the crisis line, providing advocates to those who have reported a sexual assault at an emergency room or police station, holding support groups and retreats and offering information and prevention services.

“Our SARN program really does a wide range of things, and it just kind of depends on where someone is, what kind of help they might want.”

– Nancy Radcliffe, HelpLine of Delaware and Morrow Counties

SARN and HelpLine, as non-profits, rely on grants and donations for funding. One of their donors is Ohio Wesleyan participants in the V-Day movement to end violence against women and girls.

V-Day OWU activists take donations during on-campus performances of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” and donated between $800 and $900 in the past two years, according to co-director Claire Hackett, an OWU student in the class of 2014.

“Although we can promote awareness about sexual assault we are not a resource for survivors and I think raising money is important,” Hackett said.

Radcliffe too agrees that the statistics likely show more reporting occurs in Delaware.

“I think Delaware County has… a team of first responders that work more closely together than in some of the bigger counties,” said Radcliffe, who previously worked in Franklin County and at Ohio State University.

“…Here in Delaware, I would anticipate there would be a higher incidence of people reporting.”

The first responders she referenced include SARN’s survivor advocates, city police and county sheriff’s deputies.

She acknowledged, though, that while those who experience sexual assaults may be more likely to learn of and use services available, general public awareness could be improved.

“I think the support services that exist form a pretty invisible safety net for people, I don’t know that people know that there’s all the great people who can help here out in Delaware,” she said.

Radcliffe also listed several misconceptions about rape and sexual assault that she sees in American society and works to combat in Delaware.

One way HelpLine’s staff works to increase education on and prevent sexual assault is through grant-funded programs in area schools, ranging from preschool to high school to Ohio Wesleyan University, whose students also receive education from Delaware Police through programs started by Police Captain Adam Moore and Public Safety Director Robert Wood.

HelpLine’s programs address violence in general but also include specific focuses on sexual violence.

“What we’ve learned about violence prevention is we need to be talking to everybody,” Radcliffe said.

“We need to be talking to potential perpetrators for sure but also people who witness stuff going on and people who experience it. So we have programs in the elementary school, but we really get into sexual violence prevention more specifically in middle and high schools.”

State-wide activist Katie Hanna mentioned HelpLine’s program specifically, saying it “equips youth with skills to develop healthy relationships, and to stop all forms of sexual violence before they happen, including being an active bystander that interrupts unhealthy behaviors.”

She also said that parents have a role in preventing sexual assault through education.

“Parents should have conversations with their children and teens about healthy relationships, boundaries and consent,” she said.

Their programs on sexual violence don’t make any assumptions regarding possible sexual activity on the part of the students, according to Radcliffe.

“Our goal is not to do sex education but to let people know that any time, this may be on the table, people may be in a situation (involving sexual assault), these are the things you need to know,” she said.

“This is what consent is, this is what coercion is.”

The programs emphasize that consent cannot be given if a person is intoxicated and challenge “rape-supportive ideas”, Radcliffe said.

They also challenge the misperception that survivors are more likely to be assaulted by someone they know than a stranger – the Department of Justice’s 2005 National Crime Victimization Study found that in 73 percent of reported rapes the survivor knew the perpetrator.

“We’re just given messages about the prevention of stranger attacks, so it kind of leaves people unprepared for when it’s someone they know who takes advantage of a situation,” Radcliffe said.

“…A lot of times (people) only think about (sexual assault) as being something that involves a great deal of physical force, so we try to help people understand what it is and once people understand what it is then some good conversations happen.”

Radcliffe added that any form of sexual assault, not just rape, can be incredibly traumatic for the survivor, and how the assault affects them depends on “the individual and their situation.”

“Whether it’s gross sexual imposition, a sexual battery or rape, voyeurism, (it) can be devastating – any of the sex offenses that you look at, the 2907s (Section of sex offenses in the Ohio Revised Code,) for the individual it’s the specific circumstances that seem to resonate with them,” she said.

“…Just because the criminal justice system might charge something as a misdemeanor, it doesn’t mean it hasn’t profoundly affected the person who experienced it.”

Sexual assaults reported in Delaware from 2000 to 2012, by criminal classification. Statistics from Delaware Police; Graphic by Spenser Hickey

56.4 Percent

Another area SARN focuses awareness and prevention efforts on is child sexual abuse, through programs such as Stewards of Children, which trains adults to prevent, recognize and react.

“Adults have more power to interrupt something, and so we try to make sure people have better information than just ‘stranger danger,’” Radcliffe said.

From 2000 to 2008, 56.4 percent of sexual assault survivors in rapes reported to DPD were under 18 on the day the report was made, excluding 21 reports that did not list the survivor’s date of birth.

In Ohio, according to Katie Hanna, more than 60 percent of rape reports involve children and juveniles. Nationally, according to statistics provided by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), 44 percent of rape and sexual assault survivors are under 18 and 15 percent are under 12.

In Delaware from 2000 to 2008, 56.4 percent of rape survivors were under 18, as noted, and 28 percent were under 12. The 2010 US Census reported that 23.7 percent of Delaware’s population were minors.

The highest percentage of reporting survivors under 18 during that period was in 2007, when 72.6 percent of those raped were children. There were more rapes of children than any other FBI-defined violent crime that year.

“If that doesn’t make you stop and think ‘What the heck,’ what does?”

– Radcliffe, on statistics on child sexual assault and rape.

HelpLine and SARN work more closely with adult survivors of child sexual assault, she said, and often refer children and their parents or guardians to specialists in Delaware and Franklin County.

“I think our strongest suit is that we’re connected to a lot of people who can help, so it just kind of depends on what the individual wants to do,” Radcliffe said.

Sexual assault survivors in Delaware from 2000 to 2008 - ages are from when report was made, not when assault occurred. Statistics from Delaware Police; Graphic by Spenser Hickey. — Sexual assault survivors in Delaware from 2000 to 2008 by age group. Ages are from when report was made, not when assault occurred. Statistics from Delaware Police; Graphic by Spenser Hickey.

For Hackett, a representative of the V-Day movement to end violence against both women and girls, violence against children is an issue that needs more attention.

“I don’t think when we think of sexual assault we think of children, because that would be even more horrifying,” she said.

“…I think it happens a lot more often than people think and it’s almost like we categorize it into something else, like, ‘Oh, that’s sexual abuse or that’s an abusive family or we say the government will take care of that, will remove the child from that. But it’s so hidden and it’s not talked about.”

She did see it as gaining more attention due to performances such as “The Vagina Monologues” – a series of readings by activist Eve Ensler, founder of the V-Day movement – or “Butterfly Confessions,” a similar piece by Yetta Young that addresses experiences of African-American women.

“People are finally coming out and opening these wounds that they’ve had,” Hackett said.

When children do disclose that they have been or are being assaulted, it’s imperative that they be believed, as should all sexual assault survivors, according to Hanna.

“Children are often threatened by these ‘trusted’ adults to keep secrets,” she said.

“Survivors need to hear that it’s not their fault and they are not to blame for what happened to them, at any age.”

– Katie Hanna, Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence

Civil rights leader receives honorary degree

Near the end of an already emotional speech on campus, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) delivered a passionate call for unity.

“It doesn’t matter whether we’re black or white, Latino, Asian-American or Native American, it doesn’t matter whether we’re Democrats or Republicans, it doesn’t matter whether we’re straight or gay – we’re one people, one family,” Lewis said.

Lewis came to campus to receive an honorary doctorate degree, and as one of the “Big Six” civil rights leaders, he has seen firsthand the violence that can follow division.

“Congressman John Lewis was on the frontlines of virtually every struggle for racial justice in the 1960s,” said Professor Michael Flamm of the university’s history department.

Flamm, professor Paula White and Terree Stevenson ’95, all nominated Rep. Lewis for the honorary degree. White is chair of the education department and Stevenson is director of the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs.

In their nomination form, submitted last academic year, the three say that Lewis “is one of the towering figures of the modern civil rights movement.”

“The path he chose was brutally hard at times, but the results historic,” said Michael Long, chairperson of the Board of Trustees, which unanimously approved Lewis’ degree. “This is exactly the type of educational experience we seek to provide at Ohio Wesleyan.”

Lewis received his honorary degree from university President Rock Jones and Rev. Myron McCoy ‘77, an at-large trustee.

“Sir Isaac Newton said, ‘If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants,’” McCoy said in his introduction. “Congressman John Lewis is such a giant.”

Lewis rose to prominence within the civil rights movement with his involvement in sit-ins in Nashville, challenging segregated restaurants. Despite beatings and arrests, he and other activists, trained by Rev. James Lawson, continually practiced nonviolence in the style of Mahatma Gandhi and Henry David Thoreau.

“I literally grew up by sitting down on those wax counter stools,” Lewis said in an interview before the speech.

His lecture, following the presentation of his degree, focused on his experiences in the civil rights movement and modern politics and his belief in the need for unity and reconciliation rather than bitterness and anger.

Jones said that the lecture provided “a terrific evening.”

“I was thrilled so many people were here and so thrilled we were able to hear him speak so powerfully and eloquently about his life and about what it can mean for all of us,” Jones said.

“There were some great questions, people identifying with his life and with the commitments he’s made and thinking about the work that’s still to be done.”

Senior Madeleine Leader was among the students who asked questions of Lewis following his speech, describing how members of the black community and allies have struggled to make their voices heard on campus.

“I was wondering if you can offer any advice so that we don’t get burned out, we don’t become hostile, we don’t become bitter because obviously we want to create positive change for people in the future,” Leader asked.

“Continue to be hopeful, continue to be optimistic and continue to negotiate,” Lewis replied. “Never give up.”

“I think that his approach is extremely important,” Leader said afterward.

“It’s something that we as students today don’t entirely understand because we want everything, now now now. I think embracing his message of love and not getting bitter is only going to help us.”

Even though they’ll be graduating, Leader said they hope to “get in good trouble,” as Lewis put it.

Junior Brianna Robinson, co-director of Ohio Wesleyan’s performance of “Butterfly Confessions” – a series of readings on the experiences of black women – said she thought the event was “absolutely amazing.”

“I kind of wish that (Lewis) knew what we just did over the weekend, but I think it’s amazing that we got to do it and then this is probably one of the greatest events that OWU has ever put on,” Robinson said.

“I think it’s amazing that we got to share the same timeframe of him being here.”

Memories of the Movement: A Q&A with John Lewis

1955

SH: (The civil rights movement began to reach national attention in the 1950s. In 1955, Emmett Till was brutally murdered in Mississippi; he was born a year after John Lewis. Till’s death and the subsequent acquittal of his murderers gained national attention. That same year in Montgomery, Ala., the NAACP and other civil rights groups launched a boycott lasting more than a year after Rosa Parks was arrested for defying segregation on a city bus.) For my generation, we’ve only seen segregation and what that was like in photographs or films, so what was that like and how did it affect you at the time?

JL: When I was growing up, I would see the signs that said “White Only,” “Colored Only”…I didn’t like it, and I asked my mother, asked my father, my grandparents, my great-grandparents why. They would say, “That’s the way it is. Don’t get in the way, don’t get in trouble.” But I was inspired by Dr. King and Rosa Parks and others to get in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble.

SH: Do you think enough is taught in American education today about the civil rights movement and about the legacy of segregation and of slavery before that?

JL: No, I don’t think we do a necessary job or a good job in letting our young people know what happened and how it happened. I think we need to do a much better job, so never again will we repeat the dark past.

1960

SH: (As a student at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., Lewis took part in sit-ins to challenge discrimination at lunch counters in the city.) When you started out in the civil rights movement, you were a college student like we are, you were leading sit-ins to challenge segregation in Nashville. What was that like?

JL: Well, Nashville was the first city that I lived in. I grew up in rural Alabama, and to be in Nashville at the age of 17, I literally grew up by sitting down on those wax counter stools. But before the sit-in, we studied. We studied the way of nonviolence, we studied what Gandhi attempted to do in South Africa, what he accomplished in India. We studied Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience,” we studied what Dr. King was all about in Montgomery. And attending a nonviolent workshop before sitting in, I accepted the way of nonviolence, the way of love, the way of peace, as a way of life, as a way of living. And being in Nashville, sitting in and later going on the Freedom Ride, it made me the person that I am today.

1961

SH:(Lewis was one of the first 13 Freedom Riders who challenged segregation in interstate travel.) Why do you think the Freedom Rides were successful?

JL: The Freedom Rides were successful because the American people saw what was happening and they couldn’t believe it. It educated and sensitized so many people and President Kennedy and his brother Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General, responded to the violence – in Anniston, Ala., where a bus was burned, and to the violence that occurred in Birmingham and later Montgomery and the mass arrests of college students, of professors and religious leaders – almost 400 of us went to jail in Mississippi.

SH: Were you surprised by all the violence that the Freedom Riders experienced during that time?

JL: I was surprised about the violence that occurred, but we had been warned. We had been told that we could be beaten, that we could be arrested, that we could die as part of the Freedom Ride.

SH: And what motivated you to keep going, even possibly risking your life to do so?

JL: I was convinced that we could not allow the threat of violence, the threat of being arrested and put in jail, stop a nonviolent campaign to end segregation and racial discrimination.

1963

SH: (As one of the Big Six civil rights leaders, Lewis was selected to speak at the March on Washington as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. His planned speech, though, contained references to Sherman’s March during the Civil War – still a source of anger for many white Southerners – and questioned the support of the Kennedy administration. Fearing that these remarks would cost the movement needed support, other leaders pushed him to change his speech.) I’m curious how you feel about that now, so many years later?

JL: Well when I look back on it, I don’t have any strong feeling of objection. There were people like Dr. King and A. Philip Randolph, two of the strong leaders within the March on Washington committee, who suggested that we tone down the speech. They said that we (civil rights leaders and federal officials) have come this far together, let’s stay together. I think it was the right thing to do.

1965

SH: (In 1965 Lewis, as SNCC Chairman, worked with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to challenge voting discrimination in Alabama. They led a series of marches. In the first, state police attacked the marchers and protester Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot in the stomach protecting his mother. He died eight days later. The second attempt, was led by Lewis and Rev. Hosea Williams of SCLC. They were crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge when they encountered a line of state police and hastily sworn in deputies.) Can you walk me through what that was like and the violence that followed?

JL: Well, on the day – March 7, 1965 – it was so orderly and so peaceful, 600 of us, I thought we would be arrested and that we would be taken to jail. I was so convinced that we would be arrested that I was wearing a backpack, and in this backpack I had two books. I wanted to have something to read in jail. I had an apple and an orange – I wanted to have something to eat. But we were told by the major of the Alabama state troopers, who said this was an unlawful march and would not be allowed to continue. And Hosea said, “Major, give us a moment to kneel and pray.” And the major said, “Troopers, advance.” And these guys came toward us, beating us with nightsticks, bullwhips, trapping us with horses and releasing the tear gas. I thought I was going to die. I thought I saw death.

SH: I’ve read that you re-walk the route the march was planned for each year. I’m curious what that experience is like to you.

JL: Well, to go back – and I went back just about three weeks ago – to go back there, it’s always so uplifting. It’s so inspiring, especially to take young people and to take members of Congress who have never been to Selma, Alabama, never been to Birmingham, never been to Montgomery. To go back to these historic sites and observe and meet some of the people who participated in it is very moving. You go back and you have to rekindle the spirit that we still have work to do, that we must not stop now.

SH: What was the highest point of your experience in the civil rights movement?

JL: I think the finest moment for me was when we walked across that bridge the third time and made it from Selma to Montgomery. (March 7, 1965 was the second time civil rights workers tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge.) And when Martin Luther King spoke, and then President Johnson spoke, we knew it was a matter of time before the Voting Rights Act would be passed and signed into law. And I was there – he gave me one of the pens that he used to sign the act.

1968

SH: (While they had finally achieved the right to vote, the civil rights movement continued, though it lacked the strength it had in past years. Lewis left SNCC in 1966 but remained involved, helping the presidential campaign of Robert Kennedy, brother of John Kennedy and former attorney general. Martin Luther King was working to build support for his Poor People’s Campaign and went to Memphis, Tenn., to support striking sanitation workers. On April 3 King delivered his “Mountaintop” sermon, describing how he’d seen the promised land, even though he may not reach it himself. The next evening he was shot dead by a sniper.) What was the lowest point of the movement that you felt you experienced?

JL: To witness the loss of people that I got to know, people that I met. I was with Robert Kennedy when we heard that Dr. King had been assassinated. I was in Indianapolis, Ind., campaigning with him on April 4, 1968. Dr. King was my inspiration, my hero, my friend, almost like a big brother and to lose this man changed my life. And I said to myself…“Well, we still have Bobby Kennedy.” Then two months later Robert Kennedy was killed. I admired Robert Kennedy, loved him, and I often think if Dr. King and Robert Kennedy lived the country and the world would be a different place.