Koestner to Speak on Date-Rape March 25

On March 25, Katie Koestner, outspoken date-rape survivor and sexual assault prevention advocate, will appear at UMC to speak about her experiences with date-rape. Her day-long schedule will include the following appearances:

10:00 a.m., Kiehle Auditorium, Guest speaker at Spring Quarter Convocation

11:00 a.m.-1:00p.m., 114 Dowell, Session: "What to Do If. . ." information on being an advocate to someone who has been date-raped

5:00-6:30 p.m., SCC AB, Repeat of Session "What to Do If. . ." information on being an advocate to someone who has been date-raped

7:30 p.m., Bede Ballroom, Presentation "No/Yes" followed by question and answer session

There will be a question and answer session immediately following the 7:30 p.m. presentation, which is sponsored by UMC’s Violence Intervention Project, Concerts and Lectures, Sexual Assault Task force, Civil Service Professional Development Fund, Commission on Women, Office for Students with Disabilities, Counseling, Student Health, Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Program, and Bede Student Center.

Koestner, who appeared on the June 3, 1991 cover of TIME magazine, has received national attention for speaking out against a crime of silence. In 1993, Koestner completed a project with HBO, the Lifestories Docudrama entitled, "No Visible Bruises: the Katie Koestner Story." Koestner graduated in 1994, Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the College of William and Mary in Virginia.

Since graduating, Koestner has presented her acclaimed program, entitled "No/Yes," to hundreds of thousands of students at over 400 colleges, high schools, and military institutions in 46 states. There will be a question and answer session immediately following the presentation.

Koestner is a Virginia State-trained peer educator and sexual assault counselor who went public with her story of date-rape in 1990. Outraged at the inadequate response from William and Mary to her victimization, she took her case to the media. She has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Geraldo, NBC Nightly News, CNBC Talk Live, The Jane Whitney Show, Morton Downey, Jr., Larry King Live, Entertainment Tonight, and Italian TV, and 35 other programs. She has given interviews for a TIME magazine cover story, and stories in the New York Times, Los Angeles Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, the Journal of Higher Education, and countless regional publications.

Koestner's activities as an advocate extend to working for passage of federal sexual assault legislation. Her appearance and press conference with Congressman Jim Ramstad helped to encourage Congress, and later President Bush, to pass the Victim's Bill of Rights into law in 1992. Koestner was the keynote speaker for both the East and West Coast Student Conferences on Campus Sexual Violence in 1995, and she has addressed fifteen other national conferences.

She has also served as a consultant to schools on the revision of their policies with regard to sexual assault on college campuses, has authored a chapter for a book on the backlash to the Women's Anti-Violence Movement, and is the co-author of the guidebooks, Sexual Assault on Campus: What Every College Needs to Know About Protecting Victims, Providing for Just Adjudication, and Complying with Federal Laws (© 1995 Campus Outreach Services) and Total Sexual Assault Risk Management Strategies for Colleges (© 1997 Campus Outreach Services, Inc.). Her next book, due out in 1998, is tentatively titled "Rape As I Hear It." It is an autobiographical travelogue of three years of her presentations to colleges and high schools, and a serious look at the reality of sexual assault for American Students today.

Disability accommodations available upon request. For more information, call 218-281-8505.

Contact: Barbara Weiler, UMC University Relations, 218-281-8435

Posted: 03-17-98

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