“The way we address this as a society is to make it very clear that we condemn this behavior.”

Katie Clark was drugged and raped by strangers during a graduate research trip in the Dominican Republic. After the rape, she was left in the hotel lobby where she was staying. She has no memory of the assault.

Katie says the reaction of her close and trusted female research advisor was more traumatizing than the assault itself. Katie’s advisor did not believe her when she said she was assaulted. She discouraged her from reporting it, going to the police, or seeking medical attention.

“It’s really telling that a woman I trusted tried to silence me. I can’t stress enough how upsetting it is to have someone you trust silence you. To refuse me medical treatment because it would look bad on her reputation - that is really toxic.”

Katie left her Ph.D. program because of the lack of support her advisor and department provided after the assault. “I had to get out of that toxic atmosphere.” Incidentally, she had been conducting political science research on the relation of sexual violence in armed conflict with post-conflict peace-building efforts.

This was unfortunately not the first time Katie experienced sexual violence. Three years earlier, Katie was raped by an acquaintance at a college party. “I have memories of him holding me down while I cried.”