College Date Rape Column Sparks Uproar

(CBS)  American University's school newspaper editor learned there's a fine line between conversation and controversy when the paper printed a column on date rape.

The editor says the column was an attempt to start a dialogue, but admits it felt short of its aims, causing an uproar on the Washington D.C. campus.

Student columnist Alex Knepper ignited the debate when he wrote an article in The Eagle saying, "Any woman who heads to a party, drinks five cups of jungle juice, and walks back to a boy's room with him is indicating that she wants sex."

CBS news correspondent Whit Johnson visited the campus to hear from students.

Knepper's claim that there is a "massive" double standard between what's acceptable for drunk men and drunk women has received some support.

Student Cheryl Chan defended the newspaper's decision to run the date rape column.

"[Knepper] had a point to be made, and there's some truth in it," she said.

Others criticized The Eagle, flooding its office with e-mail and tweeted responses.

Sarah Brown, from the American University's Women Initiative, calls the newspaper's approach insensitive.

"It approached it in a way that was very hurtful, that brought back very traumatic memories from people," said Brown.

The Eagle's Thursday edition ran an apology saying, "We are sorry." The newspaper also suspended columns similar to Knepper's and is reviewing its editorial policy.

Knepper and American University Women's Initiative member Carmen Rios explained their thoughts on the date rape column to "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez.

For more on the the students' reactions click on the video below to watch the debate on "The Early Show."


Watch CBS News Videos Online

[Yavid]

If a woman and man have both been drinking, why is he responsible for his actions but she is not?

Let's get some real numbers from FBI's "Crime in the United States" for schools that report rape.

2008 Total College Enrollment=6,527,471 , schools=525, rapes=511

63% of schools had 0 rape
23% of schools had 1 rape
15% of schools had 2 or 3 rapes
One school had 11 rapes.
Rounding inhibits 100% sum.

[aumom]

Go Carmen! Thank you for beautifully articulating the issue. The AU community is lucky to have you. :)

[FloridaRes]

Everyone assumes that both the guy and the gal are drunk having consumed multiple Jungle Juice drinks. As I read the article above, the only one who had lots 2 drink is the gal. Let's be real about this - the boys push the drinks to get the girls drunk and then take advantage. Even being in prime sexual age, lots of drinks make it difficult for male to perform! And YES a woman can say NO at any point. If that is ignored, it is rape - that is the law. Having sex with someone who is too drunk to make valid decisions is also defined as rape in the law.
It is not easy for women to come forward and say they were victims of rape. Society always assigns blame - read the comments to this article. So these date rapists know the chance of getting charged is minimal. They have been raised to be barnyard animals!

[billpl-2009]

a woman who can't say "no" to the next drink

probably can't say "no" to the next guy either

[brianbwb2011]

So if a guy gets drunk, and goes into another guy's room, that means he wants to be "taken", right?

How about if a straight guy gets drunk, and goes back to the guy's dorm, that means he wants to "walk on the wild side", right.

If I were a betting man, I would bet that the idiot who posited the idea is

1. "white"

2. "conservative"

3. suffering from ASPD.

[reazo21]

and what would be the basis for your ignorant assumptions, aside from simply taking a cheap shot at conservatives? Is it because in the video posted with the article he is clearly white or the fact that he states he is openly gay? I will concede the white thing but if you were a betting man I would hope you would be smart enough know the vast majority of openly gay college students do not consider themselves "conservative".

[rwsmith29456]

No one 'deserves' being raped but if they don't like what's going on the door is right there ready to be used. Don't do it tonight and say it was rape tomorrow.

[climber2]

I dunno. I thought Knepper got the best of the argument. I don't think he was saying that women deserved to be raped. I thought he was saying that, if a woman went to a guy's room and was so drunk that she let herself get caught up in the passion of the moment and had sex without saying "no," she shouldn't wake up the next day, regret what happened, and claim she was raped. That's what he meant by talking about the reality of the situation. Things are not always black and white; there can be many shades of gray in these situations. And as the Duke lacrosse case showed, one shouldn't always assume that a guy is guilty of rape just because a woman claims he is.

[porcine_aviator]

Wow, way to elevate the conversation.

Yes, it's true, women have to be extra careful, that's just common sense. But what turdboy is saying is that any girl who happens to get drunk at a party and gets separated from her friends just deserves to get raped. Hell, by his line of reasoning, any girl who takes 2 sips of a Cosmo laced with roofies then deserves to be raped because she's too zonked to say "no". Well, that's the mentality of a rapist. Congratulations on defending the rapist's point of view. What little respect I had for American University is now gone given that they are all cool with your assinine load of crap article.

Now as far as Ms. Women's center goes...come on, get real. Your little center is not going to do jack to solve the problem. If you really want to solve the problem, you have to change the mores of society. You have to teach girls to stop gelling in to the mold our sick society has created for them, and that won't make you too popular but it's the only way. A "verbal consent campaign" will not work, because...shocker here...fratboys will not play by those rules. You little teeny boppers are just playing with fire when you hang around with those **********.

[Jdpraise]

Actually no one has stated that someone taking roofies is asking to be raped. What is being said is that a blanket pass for a woman to cry 'rape' in any scenario is unacceptable.
It is not the mentality of the rapist to suggest that people take responsibility for their actions, yes it is acceptable to say that people need to exercise caution. Putting themselves in situations where two drunk aroused semi-clothed people in a dark room is asking for bad judgment from both parties. It is unfair that a woman can regret her decision afterwards and claim a crime.
I am not suggesting that rape is acceptable, I am not suggesting that rape does not occur. I am suggesting is some scenario's when two people have reduced faculties how do you subscribe blame to only one party when both people have made poor judgment.

[linfinster]

A good example of idiot thinking out loud... again! ANY guy who thinks that a girl is obligated to have sex just because she is in his bedroom is immature, narrow minded and a danger to society! A girl that goes into a guys bedroom after drinking/partying is not too bright either.

[OrionCA]

True so long as she magically teleported into his bedroom. It gets more complicated if she walked in there on her own. In a legalistic sense "No" always means "No". In the real world "No" after the clothes and lights are off getss somewhat fuzzy. You're dealing with drunkeness, hormones, and 20 million years of genetic programming when two young people in the prime of their mating age range go off alone together.

[whjohnsonjr]

He should have written that many college-age men will look upon a woman drinking 5 jungle juices and going back to a man's room as interested in sex. Then we could all discuss the point of the article instead of semantics.