The two student groups that came together to reform the College's sexual abuse procedures following the College's alleged mishandling of a sexual abuse charge, have now filed reports with the administration.
Last term, Emily Stephens '97 pointed a finger of blame at the administration, alleging they had pressured her into seeking mediation rather than a Committee of Standards hearing when she filed a sexual abuse charge against another student last year.
Her action prompted a group of students to examine how such cases are treated by the College. The group later split into two separate coalitions.
Now one of the groups is seeking to continue its drive to reform the Committee on Standards, while the other has disbanded.
At the end of Spring term, the larger group, which included Stephens herself, submitted its recommendations to Dean of the College Lee Pelton.
These recommendations include requiring both students to be on campus when COS hearings take place; creating clearly-written pamphlets to tell students how to file sexual assault complaints with the COS; and investigating ways legal counsel can be given free to accusers if the other student threatens them with a lawsuit.
Stephens' coalition also listed some longer-term goals, such as seeking ways to separate the administration from the judicial process.
Stephens said Pelton was receptive to some of her group's suggestions, but she was not sure which suggestions or how soon he would act on them.
"He definitely wanted to put some of it into action," she said.
Pelton could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, Stephens is currently recruiting other students -- because the rest of the nine-person coalition was comprised of seniors who have now graduated and members of the class of 1996 who are now off campus.
"I want to keep pushing," Stephens said.
"I like having the opportunity to make sure something positive comes out of this," she added.
The other group -- made up of Zamira Ha '97, Danielle Moore '95 and Claire Unis '95 -- also filed its recommendations to Pelton, but their recommendations do not specifically address the COS.
They deal with broader sexual abuse problems that trouble the Dartmouth community.
"Our focus wasn't necessarily on revising COS procedures," Ha said. "It was clarifying procedures, fine-tuning it, getting a better understanding of it."
The three women asked the administration to address their concerns, such as the way students are advised about sexual abuse cases, the way support systems for victims are advertised and the way deans and administrators are trained to deal with such matters.
Ha said the three women's aim was not to change the way COS works, but to research the problems in dealing with sexual abuse cases by interviewing deans.
Ha said she considers her work to be basically done.
"They were very receptive, very helpful," Ha said.
"It wasn't necessarily, 'Let's find out what's wrong here.' It was more, 'Let's find out what's happening," she said.
"There are no plans as of now," she said. "I think they have a lot to deal with what we presented them."
Both groups released their recommendations to Pelton and sent copies to other administrators at the end of Spring term.
