[160] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: Rape@MIT
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Nnennia Ejebe)
Sat Apr 21 17:57:45 2001
Message-Id: <200104212157.RAA23740@melbourne-city-street.mit.edu>
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 17:56:48 -0400
To: "Steven R. L. Millman" <millman@MIT.EDU>, mit-talk@MIT.EDU
From: Nnennia Ejebe <nnennia@MIT.EDU>
In-Reply-To: <4.3.2.7.2.20010421170803.01b87698@hesiod>
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I am in serious need of a statistics course.
Nnennia
At 05:32 PM 4/21/01 -0400, Steven R. L. Millman wrote:
>The MIT Campus Police, as are all campus police, are required by law to
>report their crime statistics. MIT's 1999 numbers are online at:
>http://web.mit.edu/cp/www/anrep99/crime.html
>
>It looks like there were 4 cases of forcible sex in the 98-99 academic
>year. Assume that no-one here is assaulted like that twice (not
>necessarily a good assumption) and assume that 4 is about average. There
>are approximately 400 women per class (37%), which means that in a woman's
>four year career at MIT she has a probability of being raped of
>(1-1596/1600^4) about 1%. This would indicate that one in 100 women at MIT
>is the expected number to be the victim of assault involving forcible sex
>at MIT during their MIT career. This would not include the time they are
>not at MIT, and because of under-reporting these numbers are definitely
>lower than actual incidence.
>
>They are not individually reported in the campus papers because that would
>be brutal for the victim. Federal law requires confidentiality from the
>CP's and the university. The annual crime stats are published on the web
>and regularly reported by both the Tech and Tech Talk.
>
>As for your last point, I'm a GRT and I make sure to talk to my students
>about rape, especially date rape drugs. I don't know why it hasn't come to
>you.
>
>Anyway, hope this helps.
>
>Steven Millman
>GRT, Next House
>
>At 04:59 PM 4/21/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>>Hey all,
>>You know it's time for a new topic when it's hard to figure out what
>>people are arguing about.
>>
>>Anyway, so I was wondering what people think about the
>>possiblity/probability that rape occurs on our campus.
>>I've heard this statistic over and over: 1 in 4 college age women are
>>raped. Assuming that MIT is 10x better than the rest of the population
>>(and we know we are) let's make it 1 in 40. Assuming we have 4000
>>undergrads, wouldn't that mean that 100 undergrads would be victims of
>>rape at MIT!?! Just 1 is a horrible thing, but 100 is ridiculous. How
>>come nothing is ever reported in the newspaper? Do the campus police have
>>statistics? and why are those not released to the MIT
>>community? Considering how vocal the admin. is about alcohol, why I
>>haven't I ever heard anything (I'm a freshmen) so far about rape?
>>
>>I guess people who have been here longer would have some answers for me.
>>
>>thanks,
>>Nnennia
>>
>>-------------------------------
>>At 04:19 PM 4/21/01 -0400, Sourav K. Mandal wrote:
>> >
>> >"Chwanhai H Hsiung <hermyt@MIT.EDU>" wrote:
>> >
>> >> 1) How do you know what that person's <whom you are referring to>
>> motive is?
>> >
>> >Ms. Smith argues for egalitarianism at any cost, and thus is clearly
>> >employing envy as her ethical principle. I would ask Ms. Smith if she
>> >agrees or disagrees with the following statement: "From each according
>> >to his ability, to each according to his need."
>> >
>> >> 2) When did being wealthy become inherently "good"?
>> >
>> >In a laissez-faire system, wealth is created, not redistributed; in a
>> >mixed-economy system with a strong rule of law (i.e. the US), the same
>> >holds except for certain powerful special interests (e.g., retirees,
>> >the farm lobby) and government bureaucrats. Hence, anyone who creates
>> >wealth, for one's self and one's creditors/investors, is doing so by
>> >providing a service that people are willing to pay for. Thus, wealth
>> >is born of achievement, and is a Good Thing (tm).
>> >
>> >> So is asking people to be courteous and nice to other people just as
>> improper
>> >> as paying taxes? [...]
>> >
>> >It's wrong to make people "act nice," but it's not improper to prevent
>> >harm, committed via thievery, violence, or fraud.
>> >
>> >> [...] I'm essentially advocating stealing time and brainspace fr
>> >> om "innocent" people, which, as the maxim goes, is at least as
>> valuable as co
>> >> ld hard cash.
>> >
>> >Um, what do you mean? By posting this message? People can choose to
>> >not read, or not respond if they do. As far as I know, the IRS gets
>> >displeased if you politely decline to pay your taxes.
>> >
>> >> Please, do not be so vehement about someone's faults and then commit
>> them you
>> >> rself. <I know, we're all fallible, but do try to keep it to a
>> minimum.>
>> >
>> >It's justifiable to denounce someone for faults that are real, though
>> >such denunciation might be counterproductive in the context of a
>> >multi-party discussion.
>> >
>> >
>> >Regards,
>> >
>> >Sourav
>
