DEFINING DATE RAPE

Date Rape Task Force Proposal (Endorsed by the Radcliffe Union of Students)

. "Rape includes any act of sexual intercourse that occurs without the expressed consent of the person, or is accompanied by physical force or threat of bodily injury. Lack of consent may be indicated physically or verbally and needs only to be expressed once. Rape may also include intercourse when the person is incapable of expressing or withholding reasoned consent or is prevented from resisting, because of the intake of alcohol or drugs. Rape includes not only non-consensual or forced vaginal intercourse, but may also include the penetration of any bodily orifice with a body part or other object."

. "Sexual assault includes any unwanted touching or fondling of a sexual nature that is accomplished by physical force or threat of bodily injury."

. "Sexual misconduct may also include other serious or persistent unwanted sexual contact or conduct, such as harassment, threats, intimidation, or unwanted touching or fondling."

. "Being intoxicated does not diminish a student's responsibility for perpetrating rape, sexual assault, or other sexual misconduct."

Undergraduate Council Response

. "Rape is any act of sexual intercourse that occurs despite the expressed unwillingness of the victim against whom the crime is committed. Such unwillingness may be expressed physically or verbally. Rape also includes any act of sexual intercourse which, despite the victim's unwillingness, occurs as a result of the use of physical force or threat of bodily injury. Rape may also include intercourse when the victim is physically incapable of expressing unwillingness or resisting (physically or verbally) as a result of conditions including but not limited to those caused by the intake of alcohol or drugs. Rape includes not only forced vaginal intercourse or vaginal intercourse despite the expressed unwillingness of the victim, but may also include the penetration of any bodily orifice with a body part or other object."

. "Being intoxicated does not diminish a student's responsibility to adhere to college policy nor permit a student to abdicate his/her responsibilities within that policy."

. The response was amended to include a category called "sexual negligence," intended to punish nonconsentual sex while not treating it as rape. The term encompasses acts in which the initiator "fails to elicit consent resulting in the physical or psychological harm of the victim."