There have recently been a number of positive changes made at Dartmouth to address to the problem of sexual assault. Two full-time employees were hired to run the Sexual Assault Awareness Program and its offices have been moved to a more central location in Robinson Hall, a Sexual Assault Response Team has been formed to centralize resources for survivors, a first responder training program has been designed for faculty and the Dartmouth Bystander Initiative was developed to empower students to intervene when they witness a potentially dangerous situation.
Sororities have implemented a policy of forgoing social events with houses that do not properly adjudicate their members for sexual assault and harassment. This spring the Greek Council voted to prohibit students who were suspended from the College for sexual assault from continuing to live in Greek houses and being elected to leadership positions.
But more needs to be done.
First of all, the College should be more open with its data related to sexual assault incidence on campus. The College's Clery Report indicates that Dartmouth's rate of sexual assault is high relative to peer institutions. This could be for two reasons: one, there could be a higher reporting rate at Dartmouth, or two, there could be a higher incidence rate. Better data for comparing Dartmouth to other institutions would be the National College Health Assessment; Dartmouth participates in this survey but does not currently make the data public. An independent survey could yield even more information.
The College also needs to better articulate the disciplinary repercussions for sexual assault. The Dartmouth community needs to hear that committing rape will lead to expulsion. While this language exists in the Committee on Standards' Sanctioning Considerations, which state that "To protect the community, students found responsible for engaging in actual or attempted sexual penetration without consent, or who are found responsible for repeated sexual misconduct, should be prepared to be permanently separated from the College," the message should be loudly proclaimed.
There also need to be more programs aimed at educating and protecting freshmen students; women are most likely to be raped on college campuses during their freshman year.
We need to do more to deter sexual assault. In cases adjudicated by the COS, only a few student perpetrators have been expelled. Usually these were cases where the survivor was alert and actively resisted his or her attacker. The College needs to do a better job adjudicating cases involving alcohol and incapacitated victims. Even supposedly "unclear" or "ambiguous" cases should be thoroughly investigated to help identify repeat offenders.
Survivors sometimes find their experiences difficult to report, which is understandable. But if survivors are able to report, their testimonies can help to prevent future assaults by identifying offenders. COS should make reporting easier through a web-based system, including adding the ability for students to make anonymous reports on such a platform. (Anonymous reports may currently only be made in writing.) There should be a yearly drive to encourage all survivors to report, perhaps in April during Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Fraternities and sororities can also do more. It would be extremely valuable for the Greek system to develop a safe return policy, perhaps making use of the Safe Rides program.
Fraternities need to be more proactive in reducing sexual assault by eliminating the elements of fraternity culture that contribute to rape. Houses in which men talk about women as objects or sluts, or where brothers' sexual proclivities are treated like a competitive game, foster attitudes that make sexual assault more likely. Even if not all brothers participate in such activities, the house can have a group mentality that makes it an unsafe social space for women.
All of us need to be proactive in preventing sexual assault. To this end, faculty and students should receive first responder and intervention training. That way, they will feel confident and empowered to intervene in risky situations. Personally, I have been troubled by an incident where I saw a man leading a staggering woman into a fraternity and did nothing about it. It was at a distance and I was sitting in my car, but I could have at least called Safety and Security.
