When asked to imagine someone who dedicates her life to battling sexual assault, most would imagine a woman ready to use a sword of harsh words and armor of emotional withdrawal to fight male violence.
Liza Veto '93, assistant coordinator of the College's Sexual Awareness and Abuse Program, with her warm smile and welcoming personality, in no way resembles this stereotype. The scope of her work in raising campus sexual assault awareness is also far from typical.
At the Sexual Assault Awareness Week Take Back the Night March two weeks ago, Veto stood quietly behind the women and men who shared personal stories of sexual assault, waiting to comfort or hug them if they wanted support.
Veto's warm laugh carried throughout Brace Commons as Justin Wells '95 and Daisy Alpert '95 sang original songs honoring the strength of women at the party to celebrate the end of SAAW.
From her headquarters on the third floor of the Health Services offices at 5 Rope Ferry Road, Veto organizes many awareness events on campus and is always available to help students. She remains always quietly present willing to give advice or encourage students to learn about issues.
"Liza has been an invaluable resource here. She's extremely well-educated and she gets things done. I really respect her dedication and drive," Kristen Havens '96 said. Havens is a Sexual Abuse Peer Advisor, part of a campus group trained to educate and counsel their peers about the issues surrounding sexual assault.
Veto has spent many years involved with awareness work. As an undergraduate, Veto participated in the Women's Informational Service in Lebanon and the Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment committee and helped organize campus groups such as Rape Education Action Committee.
Veto's view on sexual assault has changed from the first time she began working with the issue. She said before college she only knew first-hand of one sexual assault case. She now says she realizes that did not mean the person who confided in her was the only person she knew at the time who was assaulted, it meant the individual was the only one who said anything about it.
Veto said she is working to promote an atmosphere in which women and men are comfortable to share their stories.
"I think of myself in some ways more as a case manager in getting people to the stuff that they need," Veto said.
"I think that once someone gets into the system, makes contact somewhere, the system is fabulous ... In my heart of hearts, I really wish I could get more students to make the first step into the system so we could provide whatever resources they need," she said.
But the system has not always been effective, Veto said. "I don't think you would have been doing a [Weekend] Gazette on sexual assault in 1990," Veto said.
She said the campus climate of awareness when she arrived at the College in 1989 was "very different" than it is now.
"People did not have the basic understanding. People have a pretty good idea of what to do [now] although they would like to know more," Veto said. "The climate from that time till now has changed a lot through education ... It's much more integrated into the Dartmouth community."
Veto, when speaking about factors that contribute to sexual assault at Dartmouth, paused to think seriously before saying she thought alcohol plays a major role.
"I think one of the things is definitely alcohol abuse. In a vast majority [of the cases I have seen this year], either one or both of the parties involved had been using alcohol."
She attributes this problem to the confusing effects of alcohol on the already difficult task of communication between women and men.
On a daily basis, Veto is in contact with students, administrators, and community members at the College's Women's Resource Center.
She serves on the College Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs, helps with larger campus projects like SAAW and attends meetings and lectures in the evenings.
Veto is also responsible for training SAPAs. "I work really closely with them. It's not like once they have had training they're left out on their own," she said.
Veto also keeps future goals in mind. After this year's SAAW, Veto said she realized the need to reach out to supporters of victims and to keep people actively involved in awareness year round.
She said her close connections with many students on campus helps her more effectively reach the student body.
"I know a lot of students on campus. Just having some of those connections has gotten me into some places that maybe I wouldn't have gotten into," Veto said.
One person she is particularly close with at Dartmouth is her brother, Reid Veto '96.
She fondly describes Reid as a good person who has made his own Dartmouth experience very different from her own. She proudly mentions his presidency at his fraternity, Phi Delta Alpha, and their close relationship.
One of Veto's main responsibilities now is working to find someone to replace her this spring.
Veto accepted her job as a one-year commitment after Sexual Assault Awareness Coordinator Heather Earle left Dartmouth last year. The College is currently evaluating four candidates for the position.
"We've worked a long time on kind of revising the job description ... to dealing with issues of rape and cultural issues," she said.
Veto said the new coordinator, in addition to being responsiblefor raising awareness, will also work to promote greater understanding of how stereotypes, racial differences and parental influence affects a person's view of sexual assault.
Veto said she has enjoyed working in an institution where awareness programs are well funded and students are willing to tackle difficult issues such as sexual assault.
As for Veto's future plans, she said she is not sure what she is going to do.
"I really would like to do kind of what I'm doing now but in a community setting, an advocacy role in the Boston area crisis center or a battered women's shelter," she said.
"I enjoy working with survivors and talking with people who are friends of survivors about specific cases, but the optimal situation would be if those cases didn't even exist anymore," she said.
Veto said she hopes the knowledge she has gained at Dartmouth will provide a foundation for building a support structure to help victims within communities as she has done within the college setting.
Veto will leave Dartmouth next year armed only with her smile and willingness to listen in an effort to continue supporting victims of sexual assault and spreading awareness in a very different setting.
"We'll all miss her when she leaves us this summer," Havens said.
