Dean of Freshmen Peter Goldsmith yesterday denied accusations leveled against him and the College administration that charged the College mishandled an alleged sexual abuse case last spring.
Last week, in an interview with The Dartmouth, Emily Stephens '97 claimed she was persuaded to resolve her sexual abuse complaint through mediation, instead of proceeding with a Committee on Standards hearing.
Stephens also said she was encouraged to sign a mediation agreement and received unfair treatment during the month-and-a-half the College handled her case.
"I handled this case to the best of my ability, taking care and compassion to consider the best interests of the student involved," said Goldsmith, who acted as Stephens' adviser in the case.
Goldsmith said approximately five deans made collective decisions concerning the case, and that the deans at the College "do things very self-consciously and with a lot of care."
Stephens said in an interview last night her complaint was with the entire College and its processes, not only with Goldsmith.
"I think if somebody chooses Dean Goldsmith as a scapegoat in this matter they are narrowly focusing on the issue," she said. "The issue is the College in general."
Dean of the College Lee Pelton said yesterday he thinks the College "absolutely" handled the case appropriately. Pelton, who oversees the COS,said, "at no point was this student or any other student ... pressured" to make a decision against his or her will.
Goldsmith said it is difficult to tell whose account of the story is more accurate. "All you have are two people's accounts of a series of conversations," he said.
Judicial Affairs Officer Marcia Kelly also said yesterday she feels Stephens "made the right choice" given Stephens' knowledge at the time. "I don't think she would have been any happier if she went to COS," Kelly said.
Goldsmith said except in the most egregious cases of sexual abuse such as a rape, the possibility of mediation remains available to students. "It's fair to say that there were things unusual about the case, but they stemmed in part from what Emily volunteered to me about what she wanted about the situation," he said.
Reporting the incident
Stephens said she approached Goldsmith in the final week of Spring term last year to report an incident that allegedly occurred earlier in the term.
Stephens said she could not reveal to The Dartmouth the nature of her complaint, the identity of the other party or the mediation process, due to the mediation agreement. But in a section of her complaint forwarded to The Dartmouth by an anonymous source, Stephens said she was sexually abused.
According to the College's Student Handbook, "Sexual abuse includes but is not limited to: conduct of a sexual nature which reasonably would be expected to have the effect of threatening or intimidating the person at whom such conduct is directed; intentional physical contact with an intimate part of the body of another person without that person's consent..."
Goldsmith said he suggested to Stephens that she might be more comfortable with a female adviser, due to the gender issues involved in cases of sexual abuse. But Goldsmith said Stephens said having him as her adviser was acceptable.
Stephens said Goldsmith suggested she file a complaint, which he said would be dealt with when she returned to campus in the fall.
Stephens also alleged Goldsmith did not recommend any campus support sources for sexual abuse victims. But Goldsmith said he notified her of the full range of resources available to Dartmouth students in these situations.
"[It's] the most routine thing that any dean does," he said.
Goldsmith also said he recommended Stephens talk to Heather Earle, who was then the coordinator of sexual awareness and abuse programs. "It would have been impossible for me not to have given her Heather Earle's name," Goldsmith said. Stephens said she did speak briefly with Earle, but she said "I went to Heather Earle on my own."
Summer term mediation
The day after filing her complaint, Stephens said she went home to Crosby, Tex. Stephens said she received a call from Goldsmith three weeks later, informing her that the other party had been served with the complaint and "that the COS is going to proceed with formal charges."
According to an article published in The Dartmouth Review on Friday, Jim Brennan '96 is the other party involved in the complaint filed by Stephens. Brennan declined to comment last night on whether he was involved in the alleged sex abuse incident or on the mediation organized by the College.
Stephens said last night settling the events in the summer rather than the fall was her main problem with the process. She said she did not feel in control.
After informing Stephens that the other party wanted to settle the complaint in the summer, Stephens said Goldsmith then asked her whether she would spend her own money to fly up to campus to settle the matter.
Stephens said the College eventually agreed to pay for her airfare and meals and housed her on campus. Pelton said yesterday the College occasionally pays the airfare of students who need to come up to the campus to resolve disputes.
Stephens said the College planned to house her in the same dormitory as the other party during her stay.
But Goldsmith said Stephens was never assigned to more than one room. "When she requested to not be housed in the same dorm as the other party, we said, 'Fine,' " he said.
Threat of a lawsuit
Approximately a week later, Stephens said she received a phone call from Kelly. Stephens said Kelly told her the other party would sue "anybody and everybody involved" if the case went to the COS.
But Goldsmith said Stephens herself realized the family of the opposite party could sue her.
Kelly said Stephens was reassured that Kelly was not giving Stephens the information to force Stephens into choosing a particular course of action. Kelly said the information was just something she thought Stephens should know.
Stephens said she then suggested the two parties might try to talk out their disagreements to avoid a potential lawsuit.
Also according to Stephens, Goldsmith suggested that Stephens participate in a "facilitated conversation" or a mediation, rather than a COS hearing.
Stephens said she initially objected to the idea of mediation at the beginning of her telephone conversation with Goldsmith, but she said Goldsmith eventually persuaded her to proceed with the mediation.
However, Goldsmith claimed he did not persuade Stephens to accept mediation. "I never remotely pressured her into mediation," he said.
He said Stephens had expressed some ambivalence about a COS hearing and said she was not interested in causing harm to the other party. She wanted him to apologize and learn from his mistakes, he said.
Goldsmith said in a COS hearing, the person making the allegations is not in control and apologies are not very likely, which is why he suggested mediation.
But Goldsmith said he always made sure Stephens knew a COS hearing was available.
Stephens said both the College and the situation contributed to her choosing to go through with the mediation.
The mediation process
Goldsmith said Stephens and the other party decided on the ground rules before the mediation took place. The ground rules were based on the idea that Stephens would withdraw her allegation if the outcome of the mediation was satisfactory to her and go to the COS if the mediation proved unsatisfactory, Goldsmith said.
Goldsmith also said if there had been a stipulation that Stephens would always reserve the right to go to the COS, the other party might not have agreed to the mediation, because he would have nothing to gain from that process.
Stephens said she wanted to take the case to the COS after the mediation. But she said the College required her to tell the other party whether she was going to pursue a COS hearing by the end of that day.
Goldsmith said he spoke to Stephens after the mediation and she had additional questions. He said he suggested the person who facilitated the mediation drive her to the airport.
Goldsmith said he could not reveal the identity of the mediator. "I believe it is a person who has tremendous credibility among the Dartmouth community on sexual assault issues," Goldsmith said.
Stephens said she decided while returning home she would not bring the case to the COS. She said the College then worked on "solidifying the documents" to finalize the mediation.
According to Stephens, Goldsmith told her to list the people she would tell about the incident. She said she told him she wanted it to be an unlimited number of people.
Goldsmith said the other party "wanted there to be a finite number of people she might talk to about this. ... She engaged in a conversation about the number of people she could tell. ... I never invented the proposition that only a finite number of people should hear about this from Emily."
Stephens said when she first refused to tell only a limited number of people and told Goldsmith she would rather take the case to the COS, Goldsmith told her, "Well, it would be a shame to have come so close and have to give up over a number."
Goldsmith said it is possible that he said something along those lines, because of all of the work put into the process by all parties involved.
