This week the first full week of a fresh school year the Class of 2014 was forced to face one of the grimmest realities that undeniably exists on Dartmouth's campus. As the Clery Act report states, in the past two years, 33 cases of sexual assault have been reported on Dartmouth's campus ("Report marks drop in sex assault," Sept. 30). While some '14s may have read this statistic in the report, the issue of sexual assault was most likely brought to their attention by an anonymous and alarmingly inappropriate e-mail sent to the '14s calling all of Dartmouth's fraternity brothers rapists.
The authors of the anonymous e-mail erroneously wrote that the story of assault on this campus "is not about hope." In sending this message, they have done the entire campus a disservice. They did not initiate an open discussion, but instead hid behind anonymity, employing fear tactics and demonizing a campus constituency that not only needs to be part of the conversation, but that has in fact often led the discussion on sexual assault ("Kim, students address sexual assault at forum," May 24).
The e-mail employs similar tactics to those used last February when signs were placed in front of several Greek organizations signs our Editorial Board found to be equally ineffective in promoting any sort of productive dialogue on an issue that demands attention (Verbum Ultimum: The Countenance of Change," Feb. 26).
Like many upperclassmen on campus, we struggle to find an appropriate way to respond to this fresh attack and comfort those in years below us. Resources exist to help students cope with assault. The Mentors Against Violence and the Sexual Abuse Peer Advisors represent two groups of fellow students who are trained to assist in cases of sexual abuse, assault and violence, but they primarily handle individual instances. There is only one entity on the Dartmouth campus that is equipped to respond the administration. That Parkhurst chose not to reach out to the first-year students who received the e-mail shows that College administrators value a clean public relations record over educating the Class of 2014 about the resources available to them. That the freshman class received such a slanderous message before the conclusion of the first full week of classes alone necessitates a response.
College President Jim Yong Kim started the Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault to investigate the state of rape on campus. It has been months, however, and no results have been released let alone actual proposals for assault prevention and treatment. Without action from the top, we are not surprised that the dialogue continues to be hijacked by unproductive and inflammatory rhetoric.
Last week, Kim drew yet another line in the sand on the issue ("Kim addresses alcohol and assault," Sept. 22).
"I am dead serious about preventing sexual assault," he said. "I am not going to stop until we have the best program in the country."
That's a lovely sentiment. But perhaps instead of pledging never to stop working on the issue, Kim and the rest of the administration should actually start.
