Friday's Verbum Ultimum called upon the administration to take a more active role in combatting sexual assault on campus. Is it their job to affect this change? What new steps, if any, should they take?
The administration should provide better orientation to incoming students that gives insight specifically into the fraternity scene at Dartmouth and not just a generalized "alcohol education" program. Student panels that explain our social scene norms to freshmen before they ever enter a fraternity may help to combat the false assumption that Dartmouth is "so safe."Natalie Colaneri '12
The answer to this question has been known for a while: local sororities, local sororities, local sororities. A little competition would go a long way in forcing Greek houses to clean up their acts.Brendan Woods '13
There's no way the administration can be watching over every single frat house every night. It can punish offenders retroactively, but when people are drunk, they tend to forget about the consequences. The solution to this problem lies with students, who need to stop their friends from getting into dangerous situations.Ethan Wang '13
The Verbum was overcritical of the administration's work thus far. College President Jim Yong Kim has initiated the conversation about sexual assault on campus through the Student Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault. The burden falls on SPCSA to work with Greek leaders to create a zero-tolerance policy on sexual assault that is religiously enforced.Suril Kantaria '13
It's the role of every person on campus, not just the administration, to assure the physical safety of students. President Kim needs to make sure those who commit sexual assault are investigated openly and punished with transparency.Spenser Mestel '11
While the administration bears the responsibility of fighting sexual assault on campus, the administration's response to the e-mail doing nothing was the appropriate one. If Parkhurst got involved in every inflammatory thing said on campus, the Opinion staff would have a tall stack of letters from the administration every week. Let's focus on engaging the people who want to engage.Chris Talamo '11
Isn't it ironic President Kim has done so little about the most pernicious public health crisis on our campus? The administration needs to start making concrete steps to show that it not only has a plan, but the will to actually implement it.Josh Kornberg '13
Sexual assault springs from national, even international, cultural sicknesses which, sadly, lies outside the administration's purview. Until men relearn to respect both sex and women, there is very little to be done.Peter Blair '12
What's the administration to do? Sexual assault is predicated on disregard for another person's dignity. The Dartmouth party culture does not cultivate or reward dignified behavior.Charles Clark '11
Here's a suggestion: stop handling all reported sexual assault cases through the Committee on Standards. By keeping the judicial procedures internal, the College is complicit in the silence around rape on campus, a stealthy move that allows the problem to continue unabated.Jordan Osserman '11
If this is not the role of the school's administration to work on this issue, then whose role is it? No more seminars/talks or other useless gatherings which nobody listens to anyway. I suggest some measures of tighter alcohol control, closer monitoring of the Greek houses, encouragement for the victims to openly name their offender and perhaps stricter post-factum punishment.Rustam Jamilov '11
