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	CN Interviews: Investigative Journalist Kristen Lombardi Center for Public Integrity field reporter discusses Sexual Assault on Campus series with College News By Joe Anello College News March 8, 2010 http://www.collegenews.com/index.php?/article/cn_interviews_investigative_journalist_kristen_lombardi_0307201065/ UNITED STATES -- As we first covered last week, The Center for Public Integrity has published a series of articles investigating sexual assaults on campuses across the nation. Alongside Kristin Jones, veteran investigative journalist Kristen Lombardi was one of only two reporters at the frontline of this process. Lombardi was kind enough to take some of her time to talk to College News. College News: This process was a year-long affair. What were your expectations going in? Kristen Lombardi: Most journalists want something to come out of their reporting. They want something to happen as a result of what they are uncovering. I'm writing for a purpose. This is a situation ripe for change and I want to make a difference. Sometimes it's just lifting the veil and shedding light on a problem that's pervasive so that people can begin to debate. Sometimes it's as simple as giving a voice to a voiceless constituency. CN: After the initial research, did you find it difficult to secure interviews with the alleged victims? KL: I've been a journalist for 15 years, mostly as an investigative journalist. I've done a lot of sex abuse victim stories, so I was familiar with the difficulty in trying to get subjects to open up about an obviously very private topic. I wrote the first stories in Boston about the pedophile priest that sparked the Catholic Church abuse scandal but those victims were reliving and retelling abuse from when they were children, so time had passed. It was actually much more challenging talking with college-aged women. This time they were mostly ages 18-20. It was easier to talk to a 26-year-old whose assault occurred 5 years ago, as opposed to a 21-year-old whose assault took place only two years ago. I didn't realize how difficult it would be to talk to students who went through the judicial process. Some of the victims felt deterred by their administration. They had internalized this belief that no one would believe them and that it wasn't worth talking about. It could be misinterpreted as not believing them when you're really just trying to ask questions. I approached them mostly through sources they trusted like advocate groups, lawyers who helped them file complaints, or Security on Campus, a non-profit campus security group that receives a lot of calls from students. We went to student activist groups like Student Active for Ending Rape (SAFER). These are students that are pushing their administrators to change policies. We approached them and they posed queries for us on blogs and Facebook, so some students came to us that way. We had to go through intermediaries. We had to be patient. I interviewed those victims who initially came forward for hours on the phone. I asked them to tell me absolutely everything from why they chose to go that particular school, the night it happened, the incident itself, talking to the police, etc. If they were willing to be part of our stories, I needed them to help me with their paper trail by giving us documents or helping us to get them. They signed privacy waivers, filed records requests and judicial files. At private universities, we helped them file a FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) request in order to procure the documents we needed. CN: Now that the pieces have been published, what sort of reaction or feedback have you received from the students involved or any education officials? KL: After reading the series, some national advocacy groups looking at weaknesses in the Cleary Act, FERPA and Title IX, and are looking for ways to plug those holes and lobby lawmakers to shore up the strength of these laws. The response has been huge. The Center for Public Integrity estimates the first part of the series (published in December of 2009) was read by or heard of by 18 million people. Obviously the subject matter strikes a chord. For the last part we collaborated with NPR, expanding [the audience] to over 22 million. That's a reach I never anticipated. I think it speaks to how this issue resonates with people. We've been keeping a tally of campus newspapers covering the story as well. As of right now, it's over three dozen. I've also been fielding calls with student reporters and giving them advice on how to proceed, investigate and report these incidents. That's the success of the project to me that it is inspiring campus reporters to look into this issue. At Bucknell University, the student government is putting together a resolution and wants to force the administration to cease confidential mediations. They are basically agitating in order to force the administration to eliminate this practice from sexual assault proceedings. The most gratifying response is from students we featured who sent emails and called us saying how thankful they were that their story was told. We received emails from hundreds of other students revealing their experiences and echoing what we found. That kind of outpouring is really gratifying as well. Our Take For the complete Sexual Assault on Campus series, please visit The Center for Public Integrity's Web site.
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