Katie Koestner to Speak about Date-Rape Sept. 29

Katie Koestner

13 September 2004 — An outspoken, nationally known date-rape survivor and sexual assault prevention advocate will speak at Jacksonville State University at 7 p.m. on Wednesday 29 September 2004 in the third floor auditorium of Theron Montgomery Building.

Katie Koestner, who appeared on the 3 June 1991 cover of Time magazine, will talk about her experience with date-rape.  Koestner has received national attention for speaking out against this crime of silence.  In 1993 Koestner completed a project with HBO, a Lifestories Docudrama entitled No Visible Bruises:  The Katie Koestner Story.  

Koestner is a Virginia State-trained peer educator and sexual assault counselor who went public with her story of date-rape in 1990.  After what she felt was an 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, Good Morning America, MTV and dozens of other programs. 

Her activities as an advocate extend to working for passage of federal sexual assault legislation.  Her appearance and press conference with Congressman Jim Ramstad helped encourage congress, and later President Bush, to pass the Campus Sexual Assault Victim's Bill of Rights into law in 1992.  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 and Total Sexual Assault Risk Management Strategies for Colleges.  She is working on a new book, tentatively titled Without Consent, an autobiographical travelogue of her years of presentations to colleges and high schools, and a serious look at the reality of sexual assault for American students today.

Ms. Koestner graduated magna cum laude with membership in Phi Beta Kappa in 1994 from the College of William and Mary in Virginia.   Since graduating, Katie has presented her acclaimed program, entitled No/Yes,  over 1,000 times to hundreds of thousands of students at more than 800 colleges, high schools, and military institutions in 48 states and internationally. 

There will be a question and answer session immediately following the presentation.   For further information please contact Chris Cook at JSU at 256-782-6720.

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