Sex assault exam funding requested

University Health Services are moving closer to being able to examine sexually assaulted students for evidence so that it may be used in court. But the University indicated yesterday it could not currently afford to pay for nurses and equipment necessary to conduct the examinations.

The University pledged to add the issue of funding sexual assault examinations to the "highest needs and priorities" agenda at a campus life budget meeting today, after several weeks of questions by The Daily Princetonian.

Sexual health officials and campus women's groups have pressured health services in recent years to perform "rape kits" on campus, in which evidence of sexual assault is collected so that it can be used in court.

The goal is to do "rape kits" on campus by mid-Spring, said Thema Bryant-Davis, director of the sexual health office.

Currently, an assaulted student must make a 40-minute car ride, accompanied by health services staff, to a hospital in New Brunswick if she wants to be examined.

Sexual health officials say having the option available locally — it is unavailable at nearby Princeton Medical Center — could encourage students to undergo examination. In the last three years, officials said they only brought an assaulted student to New Brunswick once.

"The real problem for us is that there isn't a place within our locality that evidence can be collected," Bryant-Davis said. "It is important that a victim of assault be able to maximize their abilities to get justice."

She said that given the small size of the campus and the fact that many assaults occur between people who know each other, a rape kit capability "can make a big difference on campus."

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Four campus nurses are slated to be trained in October to do "rape kits" on campus. One already has been trained. All must still shadow certified nurses before receiving official authorization to do the kits .

New Jersey authorities ultimately must authorize the University to perform the evidence collection for court use. They already told the University to begin the process of training nurses, said Robin Scheiner, the assistant prosecutor in Mercer County.

The cost may be significant. The University may have to pay nurses to be on call 24 hours a day and to buy a colposcope, a $30,000 digital device to take pictures of microscopic cuts and bruises.

Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson, under whose watch University health services falls, said that the University currently cannot "make a commitment to fund the additional call time of nurses and capital equipment necessary to perform rape kits on campus, because at this time we do not have the resources available to do so," in an email responding to a reporter's query.

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"I will be meeting with the Provost [Amy Gutmann, the chief budget officer] tomorrow to discuss our highest needs and priorities for the 2004-2005 fiscal year," Dickerson said. "I will add this to the list of unfunded needs that are currently under consideration."

Montclair State University is the only school in New Jersey to provide the "rape kit" option, and most Ivy League universities don't have the capability. But most are also five or 10 minutes away from hospitals that do.

"Our position on the rape kit issue is that Princeton should make it as simple and painless as possible for women who have been sexually assaulted on campus to seek counseling, to receive medical treatment and to understand their legal options," said Katherine Reilly '05, Organization of Women Leaders chair and a member of the USG women's issues task force.

"Having a rape kit at McCosh would mean that women who have already suffered a great deal would not have to leave campus to get this kind of help."