As part of an escalating national discussion of sexual assault on college campuses, the White House released a report Tuesday encouraging universities to better support victims and be more transparent in enforcing policy. Last week, the Department of Justice announced an 11-stop college campus tour that will focus on combatting sexual assault.
Dean of the College Charlotte Johnson attended the release of the White House report on Tuesday. There, Vice President Joe Biden said, “Colleges and universities can no longer turn a blind eye or pretend rape and sexual assault doesn’t occur on their campuses,” the Washington Post reported.
The report, titled “Not Alone,” announced steps to help universities identify the scope of campus sexual assault, prevent it and respond effectively to support victims. The report also addressed transparency in federal enforcement efforts. The document was prepared by the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, created in January.
Because sexual assault is chronically underreported, the 20-page document cites campus climate surveys as a method to measure the prevalence of sexual assault on campus. The government has also launched a website, NotAlone.gov, to centralize resources and track enforcement efforts.
Aurora Matzkin, director of health promotion and student wellness, said she was “pleasantly surprised” by the report’s relevance and practicality.
The report’s stipulation that victims should be able to speak confidentially with someone who does not have to report all the information contained in the conversation was useful, Matzkin said, as was the information on campus climate surveys.
Occidental College professor Caroline Heldman, a co-founder of End Rape on Campus who led a Title IX complaint against Occidental, said the report provides a solid framework for the government to monitor sexual assault prevention and reporting on college campuses.
“Now that we have a blueprint for national standards, schools will have a much harder time staying out of compliance with Clery rules as the details unfold over the next year,” she said.
Susy Struble ’93, founder of nonprofit advocacy organization Dartmouth Change, said she was “heartened” by the report, especially the speed with which it was created.
Because the task force plans to teach schools to develop and conduct campus climate surveys, she said, Dartmouth now has no excuse not to conduct one before the Class of 2014 graduates.
“There’s no way of judging effectiveness without data,” she said, adding that Dartmouth Change has been calling for such a survey for years. “Without a campus climate survey, we’re boxing at shadows.”
The College plans to launch a campus climate survey this fall.
Though he said the mandatory campus climate survey part of the report is useful, mathematics professor Alex Barnett said the document sets a low bar for future change because it does not mention permanent separation for rapists, the prevalence of repeat offenses, alcohol or other drugs as tools used by perpetrators or the Greek system.
Alex Arnold ’10, a Dartmouth Change member , said that while campus climate surveys are important, they are not preventative measures.
She added that collaborations with local groups like WISE will better support sexual assault victims.
The report suggested that institutions forge partnerships with local law enforcement and non-profit organizations, like rape crisis centers, to form a community network.
On April 23, the Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women began its weeklong college tour to raise awareness of campus sexual assault.
The 11 institution stops on the tour are all grant recipients under the office’s Campus Program, which supports colleges’ efforts to implement comprehensive responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. Since 1999, the office has funded about 400 campus-based projects.
The College’s revised sexual assault policy, proposed in March and opened to public comment for a month, is expected to go into effect in June.
