Becoming an Expert: 25 Sources for articles on sexual assault

Becoming an Expert Assignment

By Nicole Barrios

1) Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center – Melissa Rodriguez, director of development and community partnerships at the Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center. She works with victims, volunteers and community outreach. 

2) Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center – Executive director Marla Johnson. She has much knowledge on the subject of sexual assault and the history of services offered in San Marcos.

3) Texas State Counseling Center – Joanne Salas, senior psychologist and Ph.D. She works with students at the center.

4) To fight campus rape, attitudes must change (Austin American-Statesman) – This article gives some good background. Possible source U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

5) Few sexual assaults reach police (Austin American-Statesman) – Good stats, background info and shows sexual assault info at UT Austin. Possible source is the Justice Department for stats.

6) Texas State provides services to sexual assault victims (University Star) – Article about the Texas State counseling center and how the health center doesn’t have rape kits. Possible source is Emilio Carranco, Health Center director.

7) Sul Ross State University’s sexual assault prevention page – It’s interesting that Sul Ross (a university in the TSUS) has a whole page devoted to explaining what sex assault is, how to report and the Cleary Act, when Texas State has nothing like that on its website. Possible source is the administration at Sul Ross. Why do they care to include that on their site and Texas State doesn’t?

8) End rape on campus – The website of the organization End Rape on Campus, a survivor advocacy organization. Possible sources are the members/board of the organization: Kristin Brown, Annie Clark, etc.

9) White House continues pushing colleges to tackle rape culture (Huffington Post) – An article about campus climate surveys pushed by the White House to ensure Title 9 compliance. Possible sources are the National Association of Student Affairs Administrators and the American Council on Education who showed opposition to the surveys.

10) San Marcos PD directory – SMPD will be a major source when looking for rape stats and asking about how they handle it. Possible sources are Mary Rodemyer, police records specialist and Chief Chase Stapp.

11) University Police – Texas State UPD will be a good source after we’ve received some numbers of sexual assaults on campus. Chief Ralph Meyer or Captain Benitez can answer some questions about how they handle rape reports and such.

12) Krav Maga self-defense classes at Texas State – Through UPD, the university offers self-defense classes. They aim these at women is seems. Possible sources are the instructors, Christine Ames, Byron Brode, Otto Glenewinkel and others.

13) Texas Department of Public Safety’s victim services counselor – Possible sources are the statewide counselor, Melissa Atwood and the Region 6 (Hays) counselor, Christi Traver.

14) RAINN, Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network – Possible source for good stats about assaults and rapists, etc.

15) RAINN supports critical senate amendment to VAWA that will increase transparency and efficiency of rape kit testing – VAWA is the Violence Against Women Act. Possible sources, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

16) ADRDVARC, An Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence Aid and Resource Collection – A good list of the centers in Texas counties for research, info and support.

17) Rape crisis centers need more money, UT study says (Austin American-Statesman) – An article about what the lead states. Possible sources are Noël Busch-Armendariz , the study's lead investigator and an associate professor in the UT School of Social Work and the study's economist, Bruce Kellison.

18) Two Texas WRs face felony charge (ESPN) – Story about UT football players charged and arrested with felony sexual assault. A good background source on a recent incident at a neighboring university and how it was handled.

19) UT a model in combating sexual violence, experts say (Houston Chronicle) – Story about how UT is handling the sexual assault case of football players. Possible sources are Ada Meloy, general counsel for the American Council on Education, UT's Voices Against Violence program and Anne Hedgepeth, government relations manager for the American Association of University Women.

20) Universities turn to smartphone apps to help sexual assault survivors (Huffington Post) – Loyola University in Chicago created the “Here for You” iPhone app for victims of violence. Other schools are creating apps as well. Possible source is Stephanie Atella, health educator at the Loyola Wellness Center.

21) Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program (Attorney General) – Background info about the SANE program and training. It is a great source itself but another possible source is the Sexual Assault Prevention and Crisis Services Program in Austin.

22) Students fight for rape kit access on TX college campus (USA Today) – The University of North Texas made a petition for rape kits to be available at their health center. Possible sources are the students who began the petition there: Melina Padron, Dexia Smith, Tiffany Contessa and Sabrina Ortiz.

23) Students call for changes in Trinity University’s handling of sexual assaults (Express News) – Story about victim of rape and rape kits on campus. Possible sources are the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, Daniel Swinton, associate executive director of the Association of Title IX Administrators and Chris Kaiser, the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault's staff attorney.

24) Gilda Garcia, Texas State University Title 9 coordinator.

25) Margarita Arellano, Dean of Students at Texas State.