Sometimes, a woman says she blacked out and woke up with a man on top of her, and she's not sure how he got there.
Sometimes, the student can't admit being sexually assaulted.
Sometimes, all they remember is there wasn't a condom.
Dennis Martell hears these stories as part of his job, and sometimes, being an HIV counselor breaks his heart.
When it's particularly bad, he takes the student under his arm and walks them from Olin Health Center across East Circle Drive to MSU Counseling Center's Sexual Assault and Crisis Center in the Student Services Building.
"It's the toughest counseling I've ever done," he said. "I've seen it all."
But no matter how hard it is, Martell said he wants students to know someone's there for them - lots of someones. Fellow students and health educators offer free counseling and anonymous HIV testing throughout the community. Although hundreds of students use the service each year, Martell said he believes more would come if they knew help was so readily available.
"It's the best-kept secret on campus," he said. "But we want to be utilized. We want to be here for students. We want, most of all, to be askable."
Olin Health Center is one of the local organizations that offer sexual-health education and free testing. Students can make anonymous appointments online or by telephone. When they make the appointment, they are given a number for identification.
"Their name doesn't go on any documentation," Martell said. "We will answer any questions without any strings attached."
When a student comes in, they answer questions to assess their risk level, which includes sexual history, drug use and other factors. During the counseling session, an HIV counselor will help students develop a risk-reduction plan, and a blood sample is taken and sent to the lab.
The student uses his or her number to get the results of the tests, which come back in five business days. When the student returns for results, he or she will be given educational materials and further counseling, although Martell said, "sometimes, they're just not ready for help.
"People will call me months later," he said. "Whenever they're ready, I'll do what I can for them."
The Planned Parenthood Mid-Michigan Alliance also provides HIV testing and sexually transmitted infection testing with fees on a sliding, income-based scale in addition to free pregnancy testing.
Other local organizations, such as The Listening Ear and MSU Counseling Center's Sexual Assault and Crisis Center, are designed to be resources for those who've been sexually assaulted.
The Listening Ear has a 24-hour hotline with volunteers trained to handle crisis situations, and the crisis center offers counseling and a support group for women who have been sexually assaulted.
MSU's Women's Resource Center offers services for members of the community who feel they've been sexually harassed.
Jayne Schuiteman, personal safety coordinator for the center, said staff members can help women "get the ball rolling" by explaining how to file a sexual-assault complaint.
If an MSU faculty member is accused of sexual harassment, the chair of that person's department handles the complaint, Schuiteman said, so the resource center can help the complainant work with the right people.
Schuiteman said she takes every complaint seriously and deals with them on the spot.
"Once a person feels like they need to report, it's probably reached the point where they're pretty anxious about the whole thing," she said. "It's not the sort of thing I'm going to leave someone hanging on."
