Saturday Night: Untold Stories of Sexual Assault

In October of 2003, a student at Duke was sexually assaulted by a stranger. In an effort to extend the dialogue about sexual assault, the survivor wrote a piece in The Chronicle asking for students' stories and opinions. The founders of Saturday Night: Untold Stories of Sexual Assault at Duke then compiled those narratives and commentaries into a publication that was distributed to the Duke community.

In the three years that have passed, groups of students and administrators have worked assiduously to increase awareness about sexual assault and Duke's policies. However, the number of sexual assaults on Duke's campus-and in society at large-is still unacceptable.

For that reason, we write again. We ask those of you who have been affected by this form of violence to send us your stories and opinions. We want and welcome submissions from survivors, friends of survivors, anyone with opinions or ideas about solutions, and also from those who have perspectives differing from the existing dialogue.

And, if you're a survivor, we re-offer the definition provided by Duke's official sexual misconduct policy: Sexual assault is any sex act (oral, vaginal or anal) against your will, without your consent, or when you are unable to freely give consent. Whatever the circumstances, there is a place for you in the fourth edition of Saturday Night.

The dialogues that the first three editions of Saturday Night started are vital. We hope that the new perspectives in the fourth edition will not only continue these dialogues but also start moving people from words to actions. We have to hold each other accountable in order to make Duke a community where sexual assault is unacceptable.

If you would like to share your stories and opinions, please send them to saturdaynightduke@gmail.com. We will be accepting submissions through Jan. 28. Please indicate in your e-mail if you're willing to allow your contribution to appear in the next edition of Saturday Night. All submissions that appear in the actual publication will be anonymous, and the only person who will know your identity is our Submissions Editor.

The Editors of Saturday Night