Katie Koestner

Koestner is from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.[1] She graduated from Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1990. In the fall of 1990, she enrolled in William and Mary (W&M) where she planned to study chemical engineering and Japanese.[1][2] Koestner was allegedly raped by a student she had been dating for just over a week.[3] She had invited the student back to her dorm room after a date.[4] They had gone on a date to a French restaurant and Koestner wanted to spend time alone with him afterwards.[3] After inviting him in, she says he began to pressure her to have sex with him, continuing to pressure until nearly dawn.[4] She ended up being pinned against the wall by her date.[5][6] Koestner said that she felt tired and weak after hours of arguing about sex and said, "He just wore me down all night. I couldn't do anything."[7] She said her date "climbed on top of her and had sex despite her protests."[8] She said she felt "paralyzed" and that "he had a ginormous ego, and had always had what he wanted in life".[6]

Koestner did not receive any kind of medical examination until 24 hours had passed.[9] Her former date left her notes and friends tried to arrange a meeting between them, hoping things could be patched up between them.[6] She met him in his dorm lounge where she confronted him and asked if he'd heard her say "no."[6] He countered by saying that he heard that Koestner's father was angry with her for no longer being a virgin and that they needed more practice together because she was a "little stiff the first time round."[6] Koestner also felt that her rape was not "taken seriously" by the school nurse who advised her to take sleeping pills and "rest the events off" instead of getting a rape kit.[10] Instead of filing a police report, she was asked to pursue an administrative hearing at W&M.[9] The dean of students told her it was easier to pursue her complaint through the judicial process at the college.[7] During the hearing, the alleged rapist said he heard Koestner say "no" at least 12 times that night.[10] It was decided at the hearing that there should not be a severe punishment for the rape and the perpetrator was allowed to stay "on campus on the condition that he not enter anyone's living quarters."[9] There were "mitigating circumstances" according to administrators that allowed the alleged rapist to stay on campus.[11]

Because she felt a lack of support from her roommate and other women in her all-female dorm, within a couple of months after she was assaulted, Koestner moved to new quarters on campus.[12] Her parents were also unsupportive of her.[13] Nevertheless, in 1991, Koestner came forward publicly and stated that she was the unnamed victim in the campus hearing of the rape.[14] The letter that she sent to her local paper trended nationwide.[15] Koestner appeared on the cover of TIME magazine.[16] She appeared on Larry King Live, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Jane Whitney Show, CNBC Talk Live, and was featured in the Washington Post.[17][18] The publicity caused Governor Doug Wilder to ask officials involved in education in Virginia to study campus rape.[19] A few years after Koestner came forward publicly, W&M changed their policies so that students found guilty of sexual assault are required to be suspended.[20] Koestner faced backlash for her public story about the rape: she received prank phone calls and social stigma from other classmates.[19]

Koestner chose to come forward to give a human face to the issue of date rape and also because she felt like the academic hearing was a "second victimization."[17][21][22] Koestner wanted justice.[19] It was pointed out that while having a C average and being on academic probation could lead to expulsion, a decision that a rape occurred in the hearing did not lead to a similar punishment.[23] The alleged rapist came forward anonymously in the press to state that he felt the situation was exaggerated: he had been convicted by the hearing of "emotionally pressuring, not physically forcing Koestner to have intercourse."[17] He also said that he believed that Koestner was falsely accusing him of rape because she "began to express regrets" about having intercourse.[19]

In 1991, Koestner transferred to Cornell University, but came back to W&M after a year after the student who allegedly raped her had been expelled.[24][25] Controversy over her paid role in a planned HBO dramatization about her experience led to the creation of a petition that asked for the "man's point of view" to be considered in the story.[24] The leader of the petition campaign was the current girlfriend of Koestner's alleged rapist.[26] The petition signers said that the name of the alleged rapist was known on the small campus and that he would be "ruined."[19] The school paper received letters to the editor criticizing Koestner for not reporting the rape sooner.[20] Koestner appeared in the HBO dramatization, No Visible Bruises: The Katie Koestner Story in 1993.[27] No Visible Bruises was a 1/2 hour special that was part of HBO's series, Life Stories: Families in Crisis.[26] Koestner started giving workshops about preventing sexual assault and also on sexual assault policies on college campuses.[28][29][30] Her appearances were considered "divisive" by some students at the time.[31] Koestner graduated from W&M in 1994, majoring in public policy and women's studies.[24][32]

Koestner founded the educational organization, Campus Outreach Services in 1994.[33] She also founded Students Helping Others to Understand Trauma (SHOUT) at Cornell University and at W&M started the Sexual Assault Companions Program.[34] She also volunteered at a rape crisis center and became a certified peer-educator ad sexual assault counselor in Virginia.[32][34] She became the executive director of the Take Back the Night Foundation.[35] She has been published online and in print.[36] It was Koestner's efforts that brought the concept and term "date rape" to public attention.[15][18] Koestner was the first victim of date rape to publicly come forward about her experience.[37]

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