College Revisits Sexual Assault Policy Students Lobby for Rape Crisis Center, Anonymous Reporting

Author: Claire Bourne

NEWS ANALYSIS

Nestled neatly in the heart of rural Vermont, Middlebury College appears to offer an idyllic setting in which to pursue a rigorous academic program and a healthy social life. Despite this sleepy New England college image, Middlebury is not immune to incidents of sexual assault, as recent debate on the topic has shown.

On academic building and residence hall bulletin boards and in the Opinions section of The Middlebury Campus, members of the College community have aired their concerns about the College's sexual assault policy. One poster went so far as to accuse the College of "silencing" survivors' voices.

According to the Department of Public Safety, only four sexual assaults have been reported at Middlebury since 1997. While it is widely accepted by College administrators and health officials that this number is skewed by survivors' reluctance to report or even talk about the incidents, a handful of students who believe too little is being done are taking action to rectify the situation. Last weekend, four members of Feminist Action at Middlebury (FAM) met with New York City-based Students Active For Ending Rape (SAFER) to discuss how to successfully lobby for a more effective policy at Middlebury. SAFER is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to "empowering university students … to rewrite campus sexual assault policies."

In addition, yesterday marked the first formal meeting of a "study group" charged by Dean of Student Affairs Ann Hanson to review the College's current sexual assault policy. The group includes representatives from the student body, the Department of Public Safety, the Office of Health and Wellness Education, Parton Health Center, Chellis House, the commons and the Dean of Student Affairs Office. The committee will present its findings to Hanson by November, said Associate Dean of Student Affairs and group chair Kathy Foley-Giorgio.



The Current Policy



According to Foley-Giorgio, the study group will address two broad issues. It will first examine the current sexual assault policy on paper and then consider how effectively the language "plays out" for survivors and those accused of sexual assault.

The umbrella term "sexual assault" includes, but is not limited to, rape. Vermont law defines sexual assault as the perpetration of a "sexual act," including, but again not limited to, oral sex and sexual intercourse, by force or without the consent of one of the people involved. It is also a crime to engage in a sexual act when one person "has impaired substantially the ability of the other person to appraise or control conduct by administering or employing drugs or intoxicants without the knowledge or against the will of the other person."

A copy of this law and the College's sexual assault policy, along with a list of resources for survivors of the crime, are distributed to first-year students during orientation.

The College's policy focuses primarily on procedure, outlining how survivors can bring charges against an alleged perpetrator within the College's judicial structure. "A case will be considered during the time that the student charged is a Middlebury College matriculant," the language reads. Acknowledging that assault or attempted assault of this nature is "recognized as wholly unacceptable," the policy states that students found to have violated this language "are subject to disciplinary sanctions up to and including expulsion."



Student Initiative Opens Dialogue



President of FAM Elizabeth Brookbank '04 said she did not consider the current policy "horrible" but added that the language needed "to be tailored" to fit the nature of sexual assault. She said it seemed as though most of the policy had been "cut and pasted" from Handbook language dealing with other types of assault.

FAM member Kate Moffett '04, who along with Brookbank met with representatives from SAFER last weekend, said the issue surrounding sexual assault was "less about pointing fingers and more about making sure the victim feels safe."

On its Web site, SAFER claims that current campus sexual assault policies across the nation "fail to include provisions to protect the confidentiality of the individual reporting an assault." Middlebury's policy provides for confidentiality if the victim seeks help from the Health Center or from a College counselor. However, the language stipulates that reports made to the Department of Public Safety "will be shared with the [accuser's] commons dean."

Dean of Cook Commons David Edleson said that he had never received a report from Public Safety before already having been approached by the victim. In the event that he was given a report without prior knowledge of the situation, he said he would follow up with the victim unless he or she had "made it clear" in the report that he or she did not want to discuss the incident.

Nevertheless, drafted in 1998-99, the current policy does not guarantee any form of anonymous reporting, an aspect of the language both Moffett and Brookbank are working to change. Should the College establish a method to anonymously report incidents of sexual assault, the number of reports, as recent dialogue suggests, would certainly increase.

SAFER cites the potential for a sudden rise in statistics as one reason to explain American college and university administrators' reluctance to establish an effective sexual assault policy. "Procedural problems [such as the lack of a confidentiality clause] are compounded by a desire by administrators to maintain a positive public image by downplaying the incidence of crime on campus," the Web site asserts.

Edleson said that the low statistics at institutions across the country, as well as at Middlebury, were low because whether or not to report a sexual assault was "up to the victim." "Because few victims want to report a sexual assault, it sometimes looks like the College does nothing," he explained.

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act requires all institutions of higher education to annually report crime statistics to the Department of Education and to make those numbers available to members of their communities. According to Middlebury's Director of Public Safety Lisa Boudah, the College releases data every fall documenting incidents of forcible sex offenses, homicide, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, arson and hate crimes, among others. The statistics, she said, are compiled from the Department of Public Safety's records and information from the Middlebury Police Department pertaining to incidents that occurred on the College campus and on peripheral streets.

Brookbank said she believed that the College's move to examine the current policy was prompted by this semester's student-driven dialogue. She also speculated that the creation of the study group was linked to the administration's desire to maintain a positive reputation. For this reason, she said, one of her greatest challenges will be convincing members of the group and, if a recommendation is agreed upon, persuading Community Council to draft language ensuring anonymous reporting. "That rape happens here does not give the College a bad reputation. It's how we deal with it that might," she elucidated.



Potential Policy Changes



"If I were the victim or perpetrator of a sexual assault and turned to the Handbook for guidance, I would not find two critical components — certainty and clarity," said SGA President-elect Ginny Hunt '03. "I am not a legal expert, and I am not an expert of sexual assault, but neither are sexual assault victims or victimizers on this campus."

The College's sexual assault policy should "first and foremost" address anonymous reporting and 24-hour counseling "no questions asked," she commented.

Both Moffett and Broo
kbank said they would like to see the College establish a rape crisis center with a counselor on call 24 hours a day. "A rape victim needs a safe room where she can lock herself in," Moffett explained. "She needs a place where she can feel safe behind closed doors and feel removed from a vulnerable position."

Brookbank suggested that this room be separate from Carr Hall. She also proposed the creation of a hotline to be used for both counseling and anonymous reporting of sexual assaults.

Edleson said he was skeptical of the hotline proposal for two reasons. First, he said such a service would be "problematic" if there was not enough volume to support a trained staff. Secondly, he cited the potential for "false reports" as another negative implication of the line were it to be established. "It's not about wanting to avoid the reporting of more incidents," he said, "it is just that these details need to be worked out before [a hotline] would be useful."

Hunt agreed that the College needed a crisis center for sexual assault victims "even if it begins as a single room." She added, "If we are going to spend thousands of dollars on Mongolian grills in [the new Ross Commons] dining hall, I think that requesting a rape crisis center is not out of the question."

The topic of anonymity relates not only to the initial step of reporting the crime but also to the judicial proceedings, themselves. Under the current policy, a student accused of sexual assault can request a meeting with the accuser, however the accuser does not have the choice to opt out of the "mediated discussion." "During judicial proceedings, as long as they pre-submit written statements and their advisers are allowed in the room, the victim and accused should be able to testify without the presence of the other in the room," asserted Student Co-chair of Community Council-elect Ben LaBolt '03.

Brookbank pointed out that an accuser is only "re-victimized" when he or she has to face the accused again.

In the weeks to come, Foley-Giorgio said that the study group would be addressing these issues, among others like implementing language guaranteeing a review of the policy every few years.

Although widely representative of the College community, the committee will seek input from other groups and individuals on campus, Foley-Giorgio said. The group will hold an open forum at 4:30 p.m. next Monday in McCullough Social Space to gather suggestions from members of the community. In an effort to reach as many students as possible, Foley-Giorgio said she welcomed e-mail comments.

Brookbank, who sits on the committee, also said she would "try to get as wide and varied student opinion as possible."

She added, however, that her work with the group would "not be the extent" of what she was doing to raise awareness about rape and sexual assault at Middlebury. "Overall, though, I'm happy with what's going on," she affirmed. "People are talking about this now, and it is leading to action."