Tuesday afternoon, as I sat watching a public forum at the Bernice A. Ray Elementary School in Hanover concerning an accusation of sexual harassment, I was confronted with a new challenge to my ideas of community.
As an active volunteer working with children in the Upper Valley through several programs at the Tucker Foundation, I am continually re-evaluating the idea of community in my life and how this concept of community affects my presence and the kind of work I do. I work in several different communities in the Upper Valley and I sometimes wonder if any of these communities have become a part of what I define as my own "community" at Dartmouth.
As someone who plans to become an elementary school teacher after graduation, I attended the forum as an opportunity to better understand how education policy is formed and how issues such as sexual harassment are handled in a real school setting. The purpose of the forum was to address any remaining questions or uncertainties that the community had on the agreement made by the Hanover School District and the Office on Civil Rights, which closed a two-year long investigation into an alleged sexual harassment incident. I was surprised to see a large group of Dartmouth students in attendance.
The majority of Dartmouth students found out about the forum through a Ray School parent who visited education classes at Dartmouth to gather support for the forum, or through a mass blitz that was sent to several women's organizations on campus.
Without any prior knowledge of the past two years of discussion and action on this issue, Dartmouth students gave their opinions, in accusatory tones, on how the incident was handled by the Ray School administrators and District Officials. Two students explained that the forum was not turning out to be the open forum for discussion they were expecting and that they deserved a more thorough explanation of what was happening in the case and answers to their remaining questions about the validity of the decision. After speaking, they immediately left the building without even waiting to hear the response of the panel.
Dartmouth students tend to feel that they can jump in and out of the Hanover community whenever they deem it appropriate. One student at the forum pointed out that Dartmouth students volunteer in the community through projects with the Tucker Foundation. However, by volunteering within a community, you do not automatically become part of that community. Do students of Dartmouth truly think that simply because they attend an elite university they have somehow gained the insight to immediately understand the problems of any community? Does our Ivy League title replace the need to study issues of any individual situation? One of the most important aspects of an education should be learning to listen to all sides of an issue, to be educated on a situation before immediately passing judgment.
It was great to see at this forum so many Dartmouth students concerned about children's rights, which are often ignored. We have a right to be angry that sexual harassment occurs so frequently within our schools. I, too, feel the anger and rage over issues of sexual harassment. Our impulse in this incident was to mobilize and to go to the Ray School to give support. However, when sharing opinions without knowing the specifics of an individual case, you can be perceived as accusatory, naive and without a basis for your argument.
Sexual harassment and assault are issues which affect all of us and are more widespread than we would like to believe. Many times the victims' voices are not heard or respected and society is quick to dismiss a case. Nevertheless, giving true support to each victim means educating yourself to the facts of each individual case and its history and listening to the voices on each side of the issue. Just because you receive a mass blitz or hear a testimony of one person's involvement in an issue, educate yourself on what's going on. You have this responsibility to yourself and to your community. Only then, do you have the right to share opinions in the decision making process.
