She thought they were just hanging out after a date. She said they had hung out in her room numerous times before, but soon after they got back to her residence hall, Katie Koestner, keynote speaker for Sexual Awareness Week, was a victim of date rape.
Her speech was sponsored by the Counseling Center and began a week of events recognizing Sexual Assault Awareness.
"Maybe it was the dress. Maybe it was the fancy dinner. I don't know," Koestner said to about 50 students at the Alumni Center last night.
After the "fancy dinner" at a French restaurant, Koestner told the audience she invited Peter back to her room. They were both freshmen at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Va., at the time.
They danced in her room to a mixed tape, Koestner said. As they danced, he started to undo the three rhinestone buttons of her black dress.
"I wasn't very assertive," she said. "I tried to joke about things. So I told Peter that ever since I was two or three I could dress and undress myself."
This light-hearted comment didn't get the point across to her date, Koestner said. As she buttoned her dress back up, Peter stood on the opposite side of the room just five feet away. There he was undressing. According to Koestner, when she turned around he was standing there with his shorts and socks on.
"'I'm kind of hot,' he told me," Koestner said. "I just thought to myself there must have been a huge temperature difference between the two sides of the room. He told me, 'I like you Katie. I'm not going to hurt you.' I liked him. Don't forget that. I liked him."
Koestner said she tried to turn the situation into a joke by throwing a pillow at him. The pillow fight turned into wrestling. Before she knew it, Peter was on top of her and her hands were pinned above her head.
Koestner kept telling him no. Eventually he yelled, "Fine, I'm going to bed." She didn't throw him out of her room.
She said sat in the corner of her room until morning. In the morning, her date convinced her to lie down with him. He then raped her.
"I didn't think bad things happened in the day," Koestner said.
Koestner said her story is not an uncommon one on college campuses. She said when she speaks on campuses she often hears stories from students about being raped.
"Mine is just one of many," she said.
Koestner then tried to motivate the audience to help prevent rape through awareness. She asked what the audience would be willing to do to go a day without rape.
The speech ended with Koestner telling a story about a teen-ager who raped a girl with five of his friends. The boys had placed a bag over the girl's head. By the time the sixth boy raped the girl, the bag had fallen off. It was the sixth rapist's sister. The audience gasped in disgust, but Koestner never verified the validity of the story. She said she had heard it from an audience member after a speech. She said she did not know if the story was true or if it was a joke.
"If rape is just a joke, who will stop it?" said Koestner, concluding her speech.
Sophomore Chris Meek said he was drawn into what she said because he had seen many of these situations at parties.
Sophomore Mary Soltes said the speech will make her more aware of her surroundings at parties.
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