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What to do if you have been sexually assaulted

• Stay somewhere safe.
  
  
• Call campus security (x13) or the University of Rochester’s sexual assault hotline (275-7273).
  
  
• Seek medical attention as soon as possible. You may have hidden injuries and also may need to explore options for preventing pregnancy or STDs. Drugs used for emergency contraception and to prevent HIV and STDs have a limited time window within which to work.
  
  
• Seeking medical attention will also allow you to have evidence collected – and you don’t have to decide whether or not to prosecute now. Having evidence collected within 72 hours gives you the option later to decide.
  
  
  • You can have someone accompany you to an emergency room, either by taking a friend, calling a rape crisis center hotline (in Rochester: 546-2777), or calling the University of Rochester’s sexual assault hotline: 275-7273.
    
    
  • Don’t take a shower, change clothes or brush your teeth – although this is likely very difficult to do, it preserves evidence that can be used later if you decide to press charges. The evidence needs to be collected within 72 hours.
    
    
  • Emergency Room charges for the Rape Evidence Collection Kit visit are billed directly to the New York State Crime Victims Board on a routine basis. This process allows everyone, whether they have made a report to University Security or to the Rochester Police Department or not, to bypass the insurance carrier. This is especially important for those individuals who do not have insurance as well as those who do not want their parents to know about the Emergency Room visit. Patients are asked to complete a form giving permission for the hospital to notify the Crime Victims Board that the individual went to the Emergency Room for sexual assault.
  
  
  
• Get support – This is not something you should have to go through alone. Talk to friends you feel safe with, make an appointment at UCC (275-3113) to talk to someone, or contact the Rape Crisis Center (546-2777) to talk. It is not unusual to face a myriad of reactions, including depression, anxiety, fear, difficulty trusting others, self-harming behaviors, among many, many others. Some people may experience reactions immediately, others may seem to function fine immediately but have reactions long after the event occurred. Everyone reacts differently. Getting help can help reduce the impact of the assault on your life.
  
  
• Take care of yourself – You have been through a traumatic event and it’s vitally important to attend to your physical and emotional health needs as you cope and recover. Click here for some ideas in the meantime....
  
  
• If you decide not to press charges, consider having a proxy report completed. This is an anonymous way to report a sexual assault that will not result in charges being pressed, but allows your story to be heard. If you’d like to do this, contact the University Intercessor at x5-9125.
  
  
• If you do decide to press charges, either within the university system or externally with the Rochester Police Department, the University Intercessor can assist you with this process – 275-9125.
  
  
  
• REMEMBER – You are not to blame, regardless of the circumstances. Nothing you could do (e.g., dress provocatively, drink too much, have had sex with the person before, etc.) warrants someone sexually assaulting you.