San Francisco Foghorn

              FREEDOM AND FAIRNESS
VOL. 105       ISSUE 14
Timber! Facilities workers trim
and cut down trees around campus to prevent damage caused
by wet limbs.
 N]
Columnist Jon Coon focuses
on another side of hip-hop
artists.
OPI
Find out about the music from
USF's recent Erasmus benefit,
Festival For Freedom.
_s
e^
Love those short shorts: Foghorn writer Heather Spellacy
finds the scenery more interesting than the score at USF
rugby match.
_SR
$m.
Check out behind the scenes
footage from opening night of
this year's Vagina Monologues.
FOG
Mfe
£0 Jfipg
TheFoghornOnlinf.com
.UARY 1!), 200!)
USF Student Arrested, Facing Rape Charges
Senior ROTC cadet Ryan Caskey incarcerated, awaiting arraignment
LAURA PLANTHOLT
StaffWriter
Allegations of assault and rape made by
four female University of San Francisco
students prompted the arrest of 21-year-
old USF senior Ryan Caskey last Thursday.
Caskey was arrested by the San Francisco
Police Department on campus in the early
evening and is currently incarcerated at the
SF County Jail with an arraignment to be
held sometime this week.
Each of the reported rape incidents
took place in on-campus residence halls
over the last several months according to
USF Director of Public Safety Dan Law-
son. All of the alleged victims were female
students and acquaintances of Caskey.
One of the female students came to
Lawson with her testimony on Feb. 10,
and from there Public Safety was able to
investigate, conduct interviews with other
alleged victims, and make a case to present to SFPD. SFPD was contacted Feb.
11, and after reviewing the case, they took
Caskey into custody the following evening.
Because of confidentiality required by
the justice system, Lawson is not able to
release many specific details about the case
to the public. Lawson could not clarify
when or where the alleged rapes took
place, or whether date rape drugs were said
to have been used.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported
that Caskey had provided alcohol to the
women, to the extent that they were unconscious when the supposed assaults took
place. The Chronicle also reported that
Caskey was accused of using force, injuring at least one of the females.
Lawson emphasized that the nature
of the rapes were "acquaintance rapes" as
opposed to "stranger rapes," a distinction
that should be less fear-inducing to the
community. He said, "Many people in the
community are fearful when they hear that
a rape has occurred. Their understanding is that somebody was waiting behind
a bush or climbed in through a window
- a complete stranger." Lawson added,
"[An acquaintance rape] is not any less severe. But it is important to remember that
[Caskey] knew all of the victims, and they
knew him." According to the Rape, Abuse
and Incest National Network (RAINN),
73 percent of rape victims know their assailants.
The four alleged victims are currendy receiving counseling for their trauma. Their
identities are being protected for their own
privacy.
Senior politics major Erin-Kate Escobar, who did not think she knew any of
the four women, said she felt "so proud" of
them for coming forward to testify about
what had happened. "I feel empowered by
their strength; I don't know if I would have
been as strong," she said.
Many cases of sexual assault and rape
go unreported because the victims don't
know if they were really raped, or think
they might have partially been at fault.
Rape and sexual assaults are among the
most under reported crimes; RAINN reports that 60 percent of sexual assaults go
unreported.
Many students at USF have reacted
with an expectable amount of outrage.
A group of about 12 concerned students
gathered Monday night, just days after the
news had broken, to develop a list of requests for the administration to increase
awareness and education about sexual assault and rape. The requests focused on
educating students about what defines
sexual assault.
Erika Carlsen, a senior politics major,
attended the meeting and said that education about sexual abuse should be sustainable, an integral part of orientation to
college.
They plan to solicit feedback and concerns from more students at a meeting on
Thursday in Parina Lounge at 12:15 p.m..
From there they will draft a letter to the
administration that addresses these issues.
They have also distributed fliers throughout campus stating, "These assaults are not
isolated incidents; they are part of a larger
culture of violence and power."
Maggie Mullens, a senior sociology
major who also attended the meeting, was
concerned that more students were not
discussing this matter more seriously. "I'm
furious that the average student isn't more
furious," she said.
She was also concerned about the University's policy of being what she called "intentionally vague," only releasing the most
basic information to the student body, who
she felt had the right to know the whole
story. Mullens is not alone in her concern
over this. Lawson said a group of resident
advisers from Pedro Arrupe Hall had already come to him asking for more details
of the case to share with their concerned
residents. However, Lawson explained
that he had been specifically asked by the
SFPD to not release any more information
than was absolutely necessary, and he was
merely following standard procedure.
Caskey was in his fourth year at USF,
majoring in politics. In addition to his
studies, he was also serving as a cadet
in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps
(ROTC) program, where he was one of
the top ranked cadets in his class. ROTC
Program Assistant Maria Palmo said that
ROTC had no comment about Caskey or
the incident in general. He has been expelled from the ROTC program since his
arrest.
Caskey is also on interim suspension
from USF, which stipulates that he not at-
RAPE: Continued on Page 2
Vagina Monologues Panel Pinpoints Controversial Scene as Cause of Debate
Melissa Stihl/Foghorn
USF Profs. Nikki Raeburn, Peter Novak and Dean of Students Mary Wardell discussed the controversy surrounding the
performance of "The Vagina Monologues" in Presentation Theater. Religious colleges get lots of flack for hosting the performance.
CHELSEA STERLING
News Editor
With colorful paintings depicting various parts of the female body displayed
on stage in the Presentation Theater,
several key members from the production team of "The Vagina Monologues"
hosted a panel discussion that focused on
the criticism that the provocative series of
speeches prompts. Producer and alumna
Julie Henderson introduced guest panel
ists Peter Novak, associate dean for the
arts and humanities and a performing
arts professor, Mary J. Wardell, associate
vice president and dean of students and
Nikki Raeburn, a sociology professor and
breast cancer survivor. Each guest brought
a unique perspective- that of a gay person,
a single mother and a former student at a
Jesuit seminary program. Along with these
members of the USF faculty, director Meg
O'Connor and cast member Megan Pohl-
man, a sophomore psychology major, tackled the topic of why some groups object to
the performance that Novak described as a
community ritual.
"The Vagina Monologues" is a series of
speeches that is based on hundreds of interviews of women conducted by feminist
activist and advocate Eve Ensler in 1996.
Ensler asked these women about their
sexual experiences and received spirited
answers to her odd questions, like "If your
vagina could talk, what would it say?" and
"If your vagina could wear clothes, what
would it wear?" The monologues surround
not only topics concerning female sexuality- masturbation, orgasms, and the body-
but, also social concerns such as how we
define gender and historic sexual abuses
like Japanese "comfort women" during
World War II.
One critique that the panel addressed is
that "The Vagina Monologues" is too exclusive. The tide itself appears to be marketed to women only. Novak, the only male'
panelist, said that women's voices need to
be heard, and that this takes priority over
men's feelings of exclusion. He said, "The
show becomes a worldwide phenomenon
that is vital and important."
Wardell said, "Each woman has multiple narratives to be told." She went on to
say that the performance allows students to
further expand the dialogue about violence
against women. Raeburn was concerned
about whether the performance could adequately represent all women's views. The
performance attempts to display a wide
variety of women; for example, the monologues include single, married, straight
and lesbian women. It also integrates the
role of women as mothers, spouses, partners and providers. Raeburn pointed out
that gender is socially constructed and
that modern society determines what is
masculine and what is feminine. Pohlman
posed a question that illustrated this idea:
"What does it mean to be a strong, power-
MONOLOGUES: Continued on Page 2
MSA Seeks to Enlighten Others About Islam
NICHOLAS MUKHAR
StaffWriter
USF junior and finance major Laise
Popal sat at the head of the table on Thursday night, joined by 10 other members
of USF's new Muslim Student Association (MSA). Popal, the new president of
the MSA, led an icebreaker discussion at
the first meeting of the year during which
members told the group something about
themselves that only close friends would
know. He listened attentively and cracked
jokes between comments, and his laid-back
style permeated through the room, which
gave the meeting a calm and trusting tone
as they covered topics ranging from ideas
for club events to Palestinians being killed
in Gaza. Popal's tranquil demeanor provided no insight to his childhood path that
was drastically altered at six months old,
when the Afghan native and his family
fled their country as the Russian army was
invading. Popal's grandfather was an Afghan architect and a target of the Russians,
who came to the family's house only to
find that the entire family had already fled
to New York. They ended up in California
a year later. Now Laise Popal has brought
his Islamic roots to USF in hopes of creating a movement to spread awareness and
clear misconceptions about the culture he
was raised in and the faith he lives by.
"I want to bring all Muslims and non-
Muslims together," said Popal, who is fluent in Farsi. "It doesn't matter if you're
Muslim or not, it's [MSA] all about just
learning about the faith." Popal's objective
is being fulfilled in the small sample of
MSA members at the meeting, with three
being non-Muslims.
MSA member Shelley Saini, an American-born non-Muslim whose family is
from India, is an example of the MSA's effort to incorporate people of all faiths. "Indians and Muslims are not supposed to get
along," she said. Saini said that in recent
years the MSA has had a bad image of be-
MUSLIM: Continued on Page 3
International Students Feel
Squeezed by U.S. Recession
Irigoyen, international student representatives of ASUSF knew of any international
students who have left the university recently due to financial difficulty at home,
however, students have contacted the university through the USFcares email address
asking for financial assistance or flexible
payment plans and USF has worked with
"about two dozen international students
to help them enroll for spring 2009," according to Susan Murphy, senior dean of
academic and enrollment services.
USF also has an $82,900 emergency
grant fund for international students facing financial hardship, however all of those
funds have been allocated to students for
the year, which is typical even in good economic times, said Murphy.
Pei Gim said she knew of many international students who are worried
about what the deepening U.S. recession
STUDENT: Continued on Page 2
HUNTER PATTERSON
StaffWriter
When it comes to equality in college
financial aid, international students get the
short end of the stick, even at USF, with its
global social justice mission. International
students are not eligible for federal financial
aid or college scholarships and must document their ability to pay all four years of
full-priced tuition before they are admitted
to U.S. colleges. At USF this amounts to
more than $180,000, before books, travel
and other expenses and means that only
the wealthiest foreign students can afford
the luxury of a USF education. However,
with the current economic downturn hitting the U.S., international students are
bracing for a financial crisis at home and
many are being told by parents to conserve
cash or find an on-campus job.
Neither  Gizelle  Pei  Gim  or  Erick
SAN FRANCISCO FOGHORN
2130 FULTON STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118
NEWSROOM 415.422.0122.    ADVERTISING 11.).422.20.1,