Andrea Fuller Cooper spoke at UT about her daughter’s rape, depression and suicide last Thursday. The event, known nationwide as “Kristin’s Story,” was brought to UT by Alpha Chi Omega.
“I never dreamed I would lose a child to suicide,” said Cooper in a 2009 recording of Kristin’s Story.
Cooper’s daughter, Kristin, killed herself in 1995 shortly after a breakup with her college boyfriend. It wasn’t until after her death that Cooper began to piece her daughter’s life together.
Cooper found entries in Kristin’s journal describing just how unhappy she was. The most jarring fact to Cooper was that her daughter had been raped.
“I had no clue,” Cooper said. “How many women do you think tell their parents when they’re raped? My guess would be not many.”
Whether or not they talk about it, the numbers of women being raped has increased.
“One in every four college women are victims of rape or attempted rape,” suggests U.S. Sexual Assault Statistics. A woman is raped every two minutes in America, FBI records show.
Samantha Fairlie, an Alpha Chi Omega sister, wrote the winning essay that brought Kristin’s Story to UT and is passionate about domestic violence prevention.
Tampa is one of the top cities for sexual assault, according to Fairlie. “[It] is also the strip club capital of the U.S,” she said.
Fairlie said she wanted Cooper to see that we needed her to speak here at UT as opposed to another larger university. “I wrote [the essay] from my heart,” she said. “I just wanted to do something bigger than myself.”
Even after Kristin’s Story, Fairlie hopes that Cooper’s message resonates with UT. “I think [Cooper’s] visit really opened up the eyes to the campus community on this ongoing issue and how real it is.”
She notes that it should serve as a reminder for women, especially that rape can happen to “anyone of us at anytime.”
Cooper has been actively presenting Kristin’s Story since 1997 and claims that the 2013-2014 year will be her last year touring. She has visited over 300 colleges and spoken at 22 conferences internationally.
Danielle Carpenter can be reached at danielle.carpenter@spartans.ut.edu