With the sponsorship of 31 campus organizations, the fifth annual Sexual Assault and Awareness week kicks off today with a mock Committee on Standards hearing and culminates Thursday night with a "Take Back the Night March."
"The general purpose of this week is education and to raise awareness about sexual assault and how it affects people," said Yun Chung '97, who served on the committee that planned the week's events. "We need to talk about silent subjects which are very personal and private."
This year's program, titled "Looking at Dartmouth," will combine speeches, panels, discussions and musical performances in an effort to raise awareness about issues of sexual assault on campus.
"The focus of this week will be on education before an incident of sexual assault occurs, not only after it happens to someone. I hope that students will learn to approach the issues of sex and sexuality," Coordinator of the Sexual Assault/Awareness Programs Heather Earle said.
"We hope that students will go to these events and after they leave, will continue to talk about issues of sexual assault with their friends," Earle said.
Ann Marshall '95, who helped plan the week, said the focus of the week has changed over the past five years.
"When the program first started, it was more radical and 'in your face,' because it had not been discussed at the time but it needed to be," Marshall said. "But now it's more low-key and contains more educational aspects that are out there being discussed."
Although discussion on sexual assault has not been as heated as in past years when the College received more complaints about sexual assault incidents, Earle said the decline in the number of reports does not necessarily mean that the programs have reduced the occurrence of attacks on campus.
Sexual Assault and Awareness Week has been criticized for neglecting to address sexual assault in the gay, lesbian and bisexual communities, according to Marshall.
"Also, the issue has also been polarized with men seen as the perpetrators and women as the victims. We need to have men involved more with the experiences of women," she added.
Student volunteers will set up a booth in the Hopkins Center from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., today through Thursday to distribute information about the week's activities. They will pass out colored ribbons to be worn or placed on a wreath to represent people who are either victims of sexual assault, have a relative or a friend who is a victim, or are supportive of victims.
There will be a mock hearing of the Committee on Standards at 7 p.m. tonight in the Collis Common Ground in which actors will assume the roles of people involved in a hypothetical COS case.
"It will be a chance for students to see a type of case which is usually closed to the public," said Reini Jensen '94, who served on the committee to plan the week
On Tuesday, Senior Fellows Christine Carter '94 and Nicky Schmidt '94 will lead a presentation and reading titled "Tracing the Footsteps of Abuse: Rape and Battering Through the Eyes of Second Hand Witnesses" at 4 p.m. in the Wren Room of Sanborn Library.
Several female groups and vocalists, including the Decibelles and Daisy Alpert, will sing on Women's Music Night at 10 p.m. Tuesday in the Lone Pine Tavern in Collis Center.
On Wednesday, Alan Berkowitz, director of counseling at Hobart and William Smith College, will speak on men's roles in a speech titled "Consent vs. Coercion: Changing Men's Role Towards Mutuality in Sexual Relationships", to be held at 7 p.m. in the Collis Common Ground.
"[Berkowitz's] speech is meant to show that sexual assault doesn't affect women alone, it affects everyone. A man may have a girlfriend or sister or wife who may have been assaulted," Chung said.
On Thursday, Marshall will moderate a roundtable discussion titled "Getting the Whole Story: Dartmouth Women of Color Speak Out" at 4 p.m. at the Top of the Hop in the Hopkins Center.
"The premise for the discussion is that women of color have to deal with issues of race and ethnicity in and out of their racial community and sexual stereotypes that complicate the experience of sexual assault," Marshall said.
"There is a problem especially for women of color who have been attacked by someone of their own race. They're afraid to hurt someone in their community," she said.
Thursday night the fourth annual Take Back the Night March will begin at 7 p.m. in front of Parkhurst administration building, continue down Webster Avenue and end with a reception at the Women's Resource Center.
Earle said the Sexual Awareness and Abuse Program will provide most of the funding for the week's events with the support of other organizations, including Greek houses, Undergraduate Societies and Deans' offices.
