Roofies/Sexual Abuse in I.V

Editor’s Note:  Jill Messina is a recent UCSB graduate.  She will be contributing a series of weekly columns on her experiences during her term at UCSB.

            This is a very difficult topic for me to address and to retrieve from the archives of my memory.  I feel sick to my stomach when I think of the countless friends I know who have experienced some form of sexual abuse in Isla Vista.  I find it to be the single most horrific problem in I.V., and perhaps in college towns across the country.  In the following essay, I will describe an atrocious experience a dear friend of mine experienced while living in I.V. 

            Nicole lived in a second story apartment building with a couple girlfriends.  She was attending Santa Barbara City College, and was in a serious relationship with her boyfriend of two years.  He spent a lot of time at her residence in I.V.  One particular weekend while her boyfriend was out of town her neighbors had invited Nicole and her roommates to a party they were throwing.  Her neighbors had seemed friendly throughout the school year, so Nicole and her friends decided to stop by and hang out for a while.

            My friend Nicole, who has never been a big drinker, had a beer, maybe two at the party.  After a couple hours her roommates decided to head home, but Nicole, who was in a conversation with another neighbor, told her friends that she was going to hang out a bit longer, but that she would be home soon.  Knowing that Nicole was sober and was a mere 10 feet from her own home, they felt comfortable leaving her there.  Shortly thereafter, the only thing Nicole remembered was waking up on the mat in front of her door, shivering in the foggy dew of early morning, instantly knowing that something was very, very wrong.

            Once she managed to scrape herself up and get inside the door, she began to uncontrollably sob as she assessed the tears in her clothes.  Although her head was foggy, her body remembered everything.  The first thing she did was call her boyfriend, but she was so hysterical that he couldn’t make out what she was saying.  She was apologizing emphatically, telling him that she didn’t remember anything.  She never contacted the police nor confronted her neighbor.  To this day, Nicole still struggles with the pain, fury, and shame that are the aftereffects of this experience.  She will never be the same. 

            I shudder at the idea of just how many girls have experienced a roofie experience similar to my friend’s, and roofies are only the beginning.  So many girls who binge drink become so intoxicated that they either blackout entirely, or are manipulated by men who know better.  College girls need to be made aware of the sexual abuse that takes place in Isla Vista and how it happens.  They need to never leave their drink unattended or take suspicious drugs from strangers.  And most importantly, friends need to watch out for friends, because if they don’t, no one else will.

Editor's comment:  It is estimated that about 500 coeds are raped each year at UCSB.  It would appear that the victim in this case was a "responsible party person" and still suffer the consequences of the culture of sleaze at UCSB.  Our hearts go out to all the Nicoles at UCSB who are raped each year.  Our advice is to report all sexual abuse and understand that you can be the victim of violent crime even if you think you are partying responsibly.  We know it is difficult to report sexual abuse when the prevailing ethos at UCSB is "don't rat anyone out."   This is a sick and twisted ethos that makes the victim take the blame.  The ethos where the "walk of shame" is seen as funny.  It needs to stop.  The administration needs to take action.  

Author's additional comments:  As an afterthought for the roofies article, I wanted to mention that if a girl suspects she's been drugged, it's crucial to save her first urine the morning after, as that's the only way to prove she's been drugged.