After being sexually assaulted on campus by a summer acquaintance in the fall of 2008, a UW-Madison female student walked to her classes, feeling unsafe and consumed with anxious thoughts.
""[Rape] is a small, four-letter word, but it's the biggest thing in the world,"" the 21-year-old female UW-Madison student said.
Although she was hurt by the incident, the victim said she found the strength to decide it would not determine the rest of her life.
""Four days after it happened, I decided I'm not going to be the person who 10 years down the line [is] still hurt by this, and I think that's the best thing you can do,"" she said.
After reporting the assault to UWPD and receiving counseling and support from the dean of students and her family, she feels empowered and ready to move on.
Over 188 students reported a sexual assault across the UW System universities in 2007. The highest number of reports in the UW System was at UW-Madison, with 42 reported cases, followed by UW-Oshkosh with 30 reports and UW-Milwaukee with 16.
Cathy Seasholes, director of the UW-Milwaukee Women's Resource Center, said the difference in the number of reports does not necessarily indicate a difference in the true number of assaults in each city or that Madison is a more dangerous place than Milwaukee.
Different services are provided within the three universities to not only support students who have been victims of sexual assault, but to educate all students about the issue.
UW-Milwaukee provides several campus programs for education and prevention, including counseling, crisis intervention, advocacy to students and informational resources provided by the Norris Health Center and the Women's Resource Center.
Seasholes said UW-Milwaukee has a decentralized structure, allowing victims to benefit from any of the resources available on campus.
""[We ask them] what their needs are, and we let them know what the other campus services are if they are of any interest,"" she said.
At UW-Oshkosh, several services are provided to students through the Dean of Students Office, the Department of Residence Life, the Counseling Center, the Student Health Center, Victim Advocate and the Office of Equity and Affirmative Action.
""What we would want to make sure is that students are aware of resources and helping them connect to those resources,"" Terri Arnold, assistant dean of students at UW-Oshkosh, said.
Unlike other UW System universities, UW-Madison has a student-run organization, Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment, which functions as a referral source for victims of sexual assault and works to empower students through education and prevention programs.
""We are a place for victims or people that just care about sexual assault to come and maybe have the chance to feel empowered because they feel they are making a difference in stopping sexual assault,"" Nastassja Heintz-Janis, UW-Madison PAVE outreach coordinator, said.
Services in the three schools stress the importance of reporting to the police.
According to the assaulted UW-Madison student, reporting can put power back in the victim's hands.
""You should report no matter what. Reporting does nothing to you, and it makes it known what happened, and that's what needs to happen,"" she said.
Heintz-Janis said every victim reacts differently and some of them may not believe reporting is the right choice for them.
The services at each of the campuses attempt to help victims in the recovery process. One of the most important factors in helping a person recover is support and help from friends, according to the Dane County Rape Crisis Center Director Kelly Anderson.
""[If a friend doesn't believe the victim] that reinforces the sense that no one will believe her and maybe somehow it was her fault,"" Anderson said.
The assaulted UW-Madison student said her friends made the process harder because they did not believe her.
According to Heintz-Janis, PAVE provides workshops to educate friends of victims on how to react if a friend tells them they were sexually assaulted. The four-step process includes listening to the victim attentively without interrupting them, thanking them for trusting them, supporting them and offering help.
""The best thing you can do … is to talk to someone and decide that you are not going to let you hold yourself back,"" she said.
