AKRON WOMAN DIES AFTER RAPE

Rhonda ioney's is an unusual case of rape, although the actual circumstances of the crime itself were all too common. The unusual thing in Rhonda's case is that people give a damn about it, because Rhonda died six days later, and the routine cover-up was thus un-covered.

The "alleged" rape occurred on a Friday night, September 22. Rhonda was in her dorm at the University of Akron. Two of her roommates then came in with Tom Baumgartner, who had just left a "beer bash" and had asked the two women if he could come in and use their bathroom. Although he was obviously drunk, he was left alone with Rhonda by the two roommates. When one of them returned, Tom was on the floor on top of Rhonda. The roommate assumed she had "interrupted some. thing" and left. The above facts are undisputed.

Baumgartner claims they had mutually started "making out" and admits to having intercourse with Rhonda. (Of course he admits it. There was a witness.) Rhonda called the police and was taken to the hospital where she was treated for rape. She described the incident to a Rape Crisis volunteer and the police. She told them that when she tried to give Baumgartner some coffee to sober him up, he threw her down on the floor and raped her. She said she could not scream, or let the roommate know she needed help. She filed charges of rape against Baumgartner and he was arrested the next day and released on a $500 signature bond, Meanwhile, Campus Resident Assistants were ordered not to leak a word, so those still remain the facts, as the general public knows them. And yes, they know too that she died of a heart attack six days later in a relatively "unrelated" incident.

But even before her death, a member of the campus Black United Students (BUS) overheard a discussion between two security guards concerning the case, and wanted to know more "because she was a sister". Some BUS members went to the campus newspaper to learn more, but were told nothing and turned away. That evening, Rhonda died. BUS held a memorial service for her which over 200 people attended, collected money to help her family, and set up a Student Action Committee to investigate and see that Tom Baumgartner would be brought to justice, based on the following facts never revealed by the news media at large.

From her family, it was learned that Rhonda Toney had had a very serious heart condition, and at one time had been expected to die. Her condition had taken an unexpected upswing a couple of years ago, and Rhonda became strong enough to leave the care of her family in Cleveland and start college this fall at the University of Akron. She was still by no means well and had to take deep breaths between every few words as she spoke, yet Baumgartner's defense attorney maintains that she should have been screaming with the 200-pound Baumgartner on top of her, if it had really been a rape. Rhonda at that time had been having trouble even walking to classes, and had put in a request that she be moved to a dorm closer to the central campus and the infirmary. The University never complied.

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The Student Action Committee also learned that while Baumgartner's defense as well as University and media partners in the cover-up were crying "insufficient evidence,' the rug in Rhonda's room was covered with bloodstains that "it took two days of scrubbing to remove". And yes they were removed. Rhonda's body also has been buried, while the Coroner has yet to make an official ruling as to the cause of death.

BUS has become outraged. They held a demonstration on the day of the state hearing to see if Baumgartner would be permitted to continue to attend the University. Baumgartner pulled a Richard Nixon with a gracious letter of resignation submitted in absentia. University officials closed the hearing without a single bit of evidence having been presented.

The next week a second state hearing took place to

decide if Baumgartner would be bound over to the Grand Jury. By this time Akron's National Organization for Women had joined the protests for justice, as well as several independent citizens concerned with the issue. Television and newspapers continued to report on the "racial issue of Rhonda Toney, the black girl allegedly raped by a white man.' NOW was left out of all coverage. Statements were taken from black demonstrators only, and edited to reflect the media's selected slant

race.

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The head of the Student Action Committee, Vincent Dorsey, says the racial exaggerations of the issue by the media have prevented at least several white friends of Rhonda from joining the cause, and he believes many more would be working for justice that have not come forward because of media prejudices. The women and men of the committee have received quite an education on the subject of rape, and prejudice the kind that works against women. And the men of BUS seem to be learning about some of their own prejudices on rape, and are thereby losing those prejudices.

Baumgartner will go before the Grand Jury. The charges will include manslaughter as well as rape, but BUS and NOW fear it may be only "lipservice" to appease the crowds of demonstrators.

STOR VIOLENCE AGAINST * WOMEN

One more party to the cause is now emerging. The president of the University's Police Patrolmen's Association has written a letter, printed in the campus newspaper, stating that campus security police have been handicapped for years by an administration unwilling to take necessary steps to provide the campus with an adequate security system, rather than the surface appearance of one. He did not write as an individual, but as a spokesman for his union.

Valerie DeFriest, local NOW president, confronted campus security heads with the issues, and demanded protection for campus women. She reports they were "condescending and uncooperative". Ms. DePriest also spoke with the Rape Crisis Center. They report at least three more sexual assaults on campus since Rhonda Toney died. NOW intends to call a joint action meeting with BUS and the police union. DePriest stated, “We will see this thing through to the end!"

Linda Jencson

Note to our readers: Baumgartner, who withdrew as a student from Akron University on October 5, was indicted only on the rape charge after a five-hour session of the grand jury on November 2.

Rhonda Toney's death has continued to fuel controversy in Akron. Detective Dick May of the Sex Crimes Investigations Unit of the Akron Police Department wrote to the Bucbtelite, the Akron University newspaper, suggesting that citizens, especially Valerie DePriest of NOW, leave police work to police. Dean Caesar A. Carriro of the Evening College wrote to the Buchtelite as follows:

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One thing that we CANNOT do is to legislate human behavior, especially the behavior that some women refuse to change, i.e., putting themselves in the occasion of

danger by walking or being alone unguarded. Certainly there are times when it is not possible to have somebody around; but on this campus there should never be an occa sion when a woman HAS to walk alone.

Dr. Kyriadikes, Akron Coroner, was quoted by Summit County Prosecutor Stephen Gabalac as stating that "a more direct cause of her demise may have been the verbal assault administered by two people known to the authorities on the afternoon of her death." Gabalac stated that "we had the two students come in and testify under oath and from all the evidence we had, there was no reason to believe that they had anything to do with her death." The students, both black, state they were offering legal assistance, a safe place to stay, and the name of a Rape Crisis Center volunteer.

Black United Students sat in en masse at the court proceedings.

Reproductive Freedom:

A LEGACY OF ACTIVISM

Fifty years ago Margaret Sanger was being hustled off to jail for distributing birth control information and educating women about family planning. In 1979 an all-male Supreme Court declared that abortion was a private matter to be decided by a woman and her physician. A sexual revolution? Hardly. These two events are significant in a thinking revolution. A revolution that says human beings, in order to be active planners of their own fates, must be able to decide for themselves in what circumstances they will have children.

The revolution is still in its infancy and not without setbacks. We are just beginning to realize that, "family planning" can be a tool for repression as well as personal freedom. Forced sterilization, dangerous contraceptive methods with side effects disguised by profit-minded drug companies, and selective "family planning" for minority groups are of serious concern. In addition a part of society is still hung up with inflicting their personal moral standards on the rest of us. Until reproductive freedom is a functional part of our human vision we must continue to demand that institutions change to meet human needs and that laws reflect the belief that sexuality and reproduction are matters for individuals to grapple with, not governments or institutions,

On Friday, January 19, 1978, those of us who embrace the thinking revolution will commemorate the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion with HOSPITALI

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ENTER-IF YOU PAY INSURANCE

-Midtners

go away!!

WE ACCEPT

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a gathering at the CSU Student Center. This is more than a party with food and music. It is a "remembering" of how far our fight has brought us, and again, how we must further struggle to gain control of our bodies and our lives.

The party, beginning at 7:30 p.m. on January 19, will be the beginning of a weekend of activities commemorating the Supreme Court decision of January 22, 1973 which declared abortion a matter of privacy and individual determination. The schedule for the weekend is as follows:

Friday, January 19 Party to celebrate Reproductive Freedom. CSU Student Center, 7:30 p.m. Films, food, music. Donation $1.50 in advance $2.00 at the door. continued on page 13

erers Resember, 1978/What She Wants/Page 3