We inhabit a synthetic environment, one that has been sculpted to facilitate a safe four years of academic and social exploration. Living here, it is too easy to be lulled into a false sense of security and to ignore the threat that rape and sexual assault bring to bear on this campus.

Though many student groups have sought to create dialogue and facilitate education surrounding these issues, they have long lacked formal guidance from the administration.
Finally, the University is making progress to resolve this deficit. The interview process is underway for a director of sexual assault and public health. After several months of searching, more than a year of writing a job description, and student agitation that began before any current undergraduate arrived on this campus, the University is on the verge of filling this vacancy. Two interviews have been conducted, and a third and final will occur on Tuesday.

The interview process has been comprehensive and has reflected the input of students involved with organizations such as SARAH, CORE and MORE, all of which will have a key role in interacting with the director to coordinate education and facilitate programming. Specifically, candidates have been brought to campus to participate in open forums to ensure that when they are hired they will be a known entity. We feel that this is of particular importance in this situation because the role to be filled is largely educational, relying on the continuing creation of dialogue and trust on this campus.

Though the pace leaves something to be desired, we commend the strides that the University has taken. We want to emphasize, however, that the effectiveness of the new hire’s programming will rely on the continued engagement of students and faculty in recognizing the real presence of rape and sexual assault on this campus.

It is too easy to create a position and consider a problem solved. Similarly, we are often tempted to make token gestures without undertaking the hard work and probing questions needed to address pressing social ills. Perhaps we, as students, will feel safer here knowing that someone holds responsibility for making this campus safe from sexual assault.
But we owe it to the community we inhabit—no matter how synthetic we may consider it to be—to acknowledge that rape or attempted rape will affect one in four women on this campus. We need to recognize that rape more commonly occurs in dorm rooms than it does in dark alleys, that rapists are more often acquaintances or friends than total strangers.

We, as a community, will be the source of norms concerning disclosure of sexual assault. This role is not—and should not be—left up to the administration. It is our duty to work actively with the new director, and with each other, to ensure that victims of rape feel genuinely supported and that the sense of safety our community claims to afford becomes a practical reality.

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Tags: sexual assault, sexual assault prevention coordinator

This entry was posted on Monday, September 14th, 2009 at 12:20 am and is filed under Forum, Staff Editorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through this feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.