The police chief at a college in Tifton, Georgia was suspended, then reinstated after dismissing the possibility of sexual assaults on campus in an interview with the student newspaper, WALB-TV reported.
"I might sound insensitive, but I'm not. Most of these sexual assaults are women waking up the next morning with a guilt complex. That ain't rape, that's being stupid," Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College chief Bryan Golden was quoted as saying. "When the dust settles, it was all consensual. It doesn't happen here. It doesn't show up here. They're about as much a rape as a goat roping."
The story, which ran late last month, dealt with resources available at the college for students who suffer sexual assault. Despite Golden's statement that "it doesn't happen here," the report includes a mention of one student's assault on Oct. 15, then chronicles her process contacting not only campus police, but school officials. Golden is not identified as part of the investigation into that attack.
Jenna Pope, who wrote the story for the Stallion, said her goal was to document who students could speak to in case they were attacked.
"I hoped that it did not reflect on the entire police force at ABAC's campus," she said of Golden's remarks.
School president David Bridges told WALB that Golden was suspended, then reinstated and required to attend sexual assault sensitivity training.
"We don't support them, they were wrong," he said of the chief's statements. "We don't in any way condone them. They don't represent the general view of the college."
Golden later sent a letter to the newspaper denying making the remarks in the first place.
"I have been out on medical leave for several weeks and do not recall much of this conversation," he stated. "We talked very openly about these issues but this article excerpt is not an accurate rendition of our conversation or my position on Title IX."
He also said that his department frequently calls on other agencies to investigate sexual assaults, saying, "They do not happen on this campus often enough for my officers to be proficient in working such crimes, coupled with the fact we do not have the staff to devote the amount of time to such an investigation."
Watch WALB's report, as aired on Wednesday, below.
[h/t Addicting Info]
