While we continue to take to heart that campus problems are being discussed with the new “Moving Dartmouth Forward” initiative, it’s important to note that the presidential committee formed under this effort is the third presidential committee in four years created to address these issues. Recommendations from other committees have generally been ignored, so it’s hard to believe that this will be any different. As an example, in November 2013 the Committee on Student Safety and Accountability recommended that “the sanction of a student found responsible for sexual assault should extend at least until the survivor has graduated,” yet this was not included in the recently revised sexual assault policy.
While an analysis of what is amiss on Dartmouth’s campus should certainly include representatives of Dartmouth stakeholders like this committee does, it should be defined and driven by an independent group of subject matter experts — including the local rape crisis center, local law enforcement and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center employees — and incorporate data from a campus climate survey of students, faculty and alumni. Indeed, COSSA specifically requested an external campus climate survey, the same recommendation.
Academic departments go through independent analyses because they recognize the value of outside experts. The concept of independent peer-review is important in academia.
No matter the personal capabilities of the individuals on this committee and their commitment, history tells us that their diligent efforts are likely to lead to little. If the administration and trustees want the community to come together on the problem of sexual violence, it must acknowledge the inefficiencies and mistakes of the past, work in more transparent and truly inclusive ways — including genuinely listening to people and subject matter experts whose views differ from that of the administration — and provide assurances that this time will be different.
Administrators and trustees could help on this count by explaining how this committee will work with transparency and inclusivity. How will the list of “leading experts in each area of focus” be determined? How will all community input be broadly shared to help reinforce the precepts of community? How will the feasibility of recommendations be determined and tested? The committee should also be permitted to directly present its unedited findings to the Board of Trustees. Lastly, the administration should stop repeating the unsupported claim that Dartmouth is a national leader in addressing sexual assault.
Dartmouth Change has spent several years trying to make the campus safe for all students. We are an informed group of over 700 alumni, faculty and students, with an informal advisory board of national experts in sexual assault research, prevention and institutional responses, and we are ready to be a useful resource to this new committee.
We very respectfully suggest that this new committee consider the following actions. First, we suggest that the committee request an immediate campus climate survey and make all unedited data public. The College has the infrastructure to do this easily, and our organization has relationships with nationally recognized experts who could help with its planning and implementation. We respectfully suggest this information should be used as an essential resource as the committee evaluates and assesses the recommendations it gathers. Further, the committee should make an inventory of all recommendations from previous committees and commissions and determine whether the College acted appropriately on those recommendations. If it has not, it should determine why not and how these problems will be avoided in future efforts.
It is essential to be efficient and thoughtful moving forward. Hope and confidence in our community springs eternal, but so does critical thinking.
Susy Struble ’93 is an organizing member of Dartmouth Change.
