Monday marked the deadline for community members to submit comments on the College’s newly proposed sexual assault policy, which was released a month ago. On March 14, College President Phil Hanlon released a letter requesting feedback, submitted either privately via email or publicly on the Improve Dartmouth website.
By Monday, four comments — including two by alumni, one by a professor and one by a graduate student, all in general support of the changes — had been posted in a featured discussion about the proposed policy on Improve Dartmouth. No undergraduates had submitted public comments.
As of press time, the Office of Public Affairs could not provide the number of comments submitted via email.
As the College examines the feedback and shapes its policy, it will continue to work with organizations like the Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault, through which students may convey their ideas about the policy in the coming weeks, SPCSA vice chair Carla Yoon ’15 said.
The limited feedback on Improve Dartmouth, said SPCSA chair Sophia Pedlow ’15, could be because people are more likely to send their qualms privately.
Susy Struble, founder of the nonprofit group Dartmouth Change, said that since the College published its revisions to the sexual assault policy, her organization has gathered comments and forwarded them to the specified email address.
Comparing the existing policy with the proposed policy is a daunting task, especially as students may not know about or understand the different federal and state laws by which Dartmouth must abide, Struble said. She added that a lack of knowledge about Improve Dartmouth, busy student schedules and exhaustion caused by recent events on campus could also deter students from commenting.
Though she supports the policy change, Struble said she hopes that Dartmouth will conduct additional rounds of discussion with sexual violence support centers like WISE, law enforcement, legal experts and alumni to improve the proposed policy, as she believes the College could have better solicited input.
“They are stepping out and trying to do the right thing, but the insularity with which it seems they created these changes is just kind of confusing,” Struble said.
Hilary Miller ’73, who submitted feedback on the policy in an open letter to Hanlon, said the option of submitting written feedback felt comfortable, especially considering the sensitive nature of the topic.
Miller, a practicing attorney, said that the policy demonstrates lack of fundamental due process protections for alleged offenders.
“I would be very troubled if it went into effect in its current form,” Miller said.
The proposal, however, shows that Dartmouth is serious about prosecuting sexual assault, Miller said, noting that one encouraging aspect is the plan’s provision for an outside investigator.
Yoon said SPCSA assisted the College in gathering feedback by hosting a symposium on sexual assault, which featured a question-and-answer session with both Hanlon and Dean of the College Charlotte Johnson. All feedback collected from the community will be compiled and submitted to director of undergraduate judical affairs Leigh Remy.
SPCSA representatives have met with Remy, Dartmouth’s general counsel Robert Donin and members of the Greek Leadership Council and Student Assembly to provide detailed feedback, Yoon said.
Of 10 students interviewed, six were not aware that the proposed policy had been open for public comment.
Eric Tao ’16, who knew about the comment period, said that he thinks most students are against sexual assault, calling the comment period “political fluff.”
Matthew McFarland ’16, who commented publicly about implementing a zero-tolerance policy regarding sexual assault on the Improve Dartmouth website, said in an email that he has not submitted any feedback about the new proposal. He said he feels uncomfortable about the College’s use of a “preponderance of the evidence” standard for serious infractions and does not think that the new proposal represents a significant change from current policy.
Sera Kwon and Min Kyung Jeon contributed reporting.
