Public Prosecutor demands 20 months in rape case involving UU fraternity member

The suspect allegedly raped a member of the Utrecht sorority UVSV in his room after a date dinner. Date dinners are an increasingly popular practice among students in the Netherlands: on these occasions, participants choose blind dates for others, and everyone eats together.

The victim was reportedly bruised, and the USC student was unable to explain those bruises to the judge last Tuesday, according to a report on the hearing by the daily newspaper NRC.

The woman said she wanted to spend the night with the USC student, but she made it clear that she did not want to have sex. The USC student ignored her wishes and raped her anyway. She eventually managed to get away from him by saying she had to take life-saving medication.

Signal
The Public Prosecution Service is taking the case very seriously. On Tuesday, the student was sentenced to 20 months in prison, with six months suspended. "We must send a clear signal to the suspect, society at large and students that sexual relationships require mutual consent. Coercion is therefore absolutely unacceptable and punishable," said the public prosecutor during the hearing.

The USC fraternity has been under fire for some time. Its members are no longer welcome to work as lifeguards on the Texel island, also due to inappropriate or abusive sexual behaviour. Last year, a prominent member of the fraternity was sentenced to three years in prison for the rape of three women, also students.

Another recent incident that made headlines involving USC concerns the "slut list", a PowerPoint presentation distributed online, featuring names, pictures, contact details and sexual preferences of women from the UVSV sorority. In July, the Public Prosecution Service announced that it was prosecuting four USC members for distributing the list. USC claims to have initiated a cultural change.