By JOHN CONNORS
Forum Editor
 

Last spring, amid a barrage of rumors and conflicting information, Bates College experienced what could best be described as an 'uproar' over on-campus sexual assault and rape. Students, outraged by what they perceived as administrative foot-dragging and mismanagement of alleged assaults on campus, took literally to the streets- nearly storming President Donald Harward's home. National media attention was focused on the campus and its institutions for dealing with the crime of rape. Survivors of assault were thrust into a circle of focused attention by the media and by students, in some cases to the detriment of their personal privacy, their physical safety, and their cases against their accused perpetrators.

Rumors abounded as to the administration's motives in dealing with survivor's cases. Students reported concern that information pertinent to campus safety was not being transmitted fast enough, if at all, to the public. Media sources suggested that the College might have been trying to 'cover up' or minimize on-campus sexual assaults. Experienced survivors of assault openly challenged the College judicial system's training, sensitivity, and (therefore) the system's ability to deal with such a sensitive issue. A non violent sit-in at Lane hall was initiated by more than a hundred students in an attempt to keep pressure upon the Administration for reform.

The Dean of Student's office, in an attempt to address the outrage of students, debunk rumors, and disprove media insinuations of a 'cover up,' hosted a student forum in the Bates College Chapel where a list of demands from students was presented to their office and the office of the President. That list outlined seven points for the beginning of administrative reform to the assault system, and demanded the administration address these issues no later than the matriculation of the class of 2002 (i.e. the beginning of the 1998 fall term).

But of course the issue of rape and assault doesn't start with last year. In a letter to the editor last year Alumna Kate Farager '91, also a member of the President's newly appointed Task Force on Sexual Assault, highlighted just how chronic she feels the issue is; "The reality is that in 1991, there were several sexual attacks on campus which sparked a student outcry and similar administrative posturing. As a senior I protested many of the same issues of notice and safety, with a group of my peers. The student body has turned over more than once and I wondered whether current students were aware of previous classes' struggles within the Bates Community over these same issues."

Since the spring of last year a host of reforms have been initiated to try and more comprehensively deal with sexual assault and rape on campus. For first years, the issue of sexual assault as a reality on campus isn't as familiar as it is to those of us who were here last year experiencing the confusion, anger, frustration and worry of last spring. The uproar over the perceived disregard for assault issues on campus

The questions everyone reading these reforms should be asking themselves are: Are these reforms comprehensive enough? Are they being done fast enough? Will these measures be followed through to conclusion?

Current Reforms;

The first important reform came last year when Dean Branham's office began publishing public notices whenever charges of sexual assault had been brought to their attention. Previously, no such public notification of cases pending before the S.C.C. (The Student Conduct Committee) had been forwarded. Critics of the system last year voiced their concern that this gave the public (and the campus) the impression that no such cases were being brought to the attention of the office. Hopefully the public will now see the yellow flyers posted around campus and it will make the simple, yet crucial, impression in their mind that assault and rape does happen here.

Chris Cuevas, a Security Officer here at Bates, has been trained by the Sexual Assault Crisis Center in Lewiston as an advocate for survivors. But an issue Ms. McIntyre, Executive Director of the Sexual Assault Crisis Center here in Lewsiton, raised when I spoke with her about these changes applies here; Does Ms. Cuevas have a potential conflict of interests? As an advocate from S.A.C.C., Chris is available for a survivor to go to for aid and advice with the assurance of confidentiality. But as a security officer, would she be compelled to report, under the Campus Security Act (a Federal law) figures for statistics? That's one of those gray areas, where we all want to assume that Chris would be completely free to not report an issue told to her in confidence. But could she, what with the strict definitions of her job as an officer?

One particularly important concern has always been the worry that the S.C.C.'s member training was either qualitatively or quantitatively not enough in order for members to properly address sensitive emotional or sexual issues. Last year several survivors as who had gone through the process of leveling charges within the S.C.C. were adamant in their disappointment and anger when they felt members needed more training. So we have to ask; are the members of the S.C.C., new and sitting already, getting the training they need?

In an interview with Joanna Lee, Director of Affirmative Action, I learned that the S.C.C. this year is undergoing training starting September 30 for discrimination. Sexual assault training will begin the next week and will be coordinated by the Sexual Assault Crisis Center. "The reason this has been done is so that there could be more training. In the past the training has only been for new members (of the S.C.C.). But now this is going to be for the entire committee and done in two sessions; two hours for discrimination and two hours for sexual assault and sexual harassment." Ms. Lee also informed me that should an issue come up in the Committee, and that a member have a question, that they could always come back to her office for more information or training. But is two hours enough for training in assault related issues for S.C.C. members?

For first-years, one of the most impressive new actions the Dean of Student's office has taken is asking Katie Kessner to speak on her experiences with rape. Her talk was sobering and informative, but what I liked most about it, besides its clear message to first-years that assault does happen to people just like them, was that she offered direction for improvement. She had answers and offered hope that things can change with action.

Both the President's office and the Dean of students have mentioned the Sexual Assault Response Line (S.A.R.L.), Resident Coordinators and Junior Advisors as a resource Bates should be using in a better, more involved way. Have JA's and RC's this year been used well to inform first- years and provide avenues for help? When asked, the JA's and RA's we've spoken to have been very positive about their training. Those JA's we spoke to reported that their training had involved about two and a half hours worth of discussion with S.A.R.L. and S.A.C.C. representatives.

It has been emphasized to them that their mission is to primarily offer themselves as a person to talk to should a first year (or any student) approach them for help with an assault related issue. When asked if the training they had received made them feel comfortable enough to properly react to such a situation, JA's and RC's responded positively again. Keith Gauger, RC of Rand Hall said; "Overall I was impressed. However, the more the year goes on, the more I've found there are certain things they could have done a better job on. For example the alcohol policy." Almost all commented on one of the newest facets of the training-role playing. Conflict management and sexual assault in hypothetical situations were both acted out. Keith commented that this role playing was "very awkward but nevertheless invaluable."

When I spoke with Ms. McIntyre it was her feeling that "If the College truly wants the JA's and RC's to be accessible in a meaningful way, and if they're going to be avenues for students, then they need more than two hours of training." Sexual assault advocates at S.A.C.C. get forty two hours of training, a figure Ms. McIntyre agrees is a lot for the college to ask of their JA's and RC's. Nevertheless, that figure gives us something to compare to in understanding how complex it can be to try and prepare and address sexual assault on the person to person level.

The President's Task Force

Perhaps the most important new initiative begun here at Bates is the President's Task Force on Sexual Assault. Composed of Faculty, Staff, Alumni, Students, and Deans, this Task Force will hopefully be the next place from where reform and refinement of the Bates system for dealing with assault will start. Co-chaired by Dean Celeste Branham and Michael Murray, Professor of Economics, the task force is charged by the President with achieving the following;

(a) To gain a greater appreciation of policies and procedures elsewhere through a study of "best practices" that are being used to address the conditions and consequences of sexual assault on other campuses;

(b) To examine and report the conditions and contexts of campus assault: understanding the conditions that are Bates specific, as well as those that are more general;

(c) To consider and report how both rights and responsibilities -- institutional and individual -- must be reflected in the policies and behavior that should be in place at Bates; and

(d) To develop specific proposals regarding initiatives and leadership in these areas.

The task force will meet for its first meeting early next week. The expectation from the President is that the task force begin it's work immediately in the Fall with the expectation of a report in the Spring of 1999.

In an interview with Associate Dean of Students Stephen Sawyer, I learned that the last major systemic revision for the College's policy had come about through a long process of; "a two to three year review done by a student-faculty committee, which was then debated by the faculty, and then passed by the Trustees and the faculty." That long process of review resulted in the Student Handbook we have now. It's this same handbook that will no doubt be at least one of the important focuses for review of the President's Task Force.

Often misunderstood as simply the `facebook,' the student handbook is actually a bill of rights and responsibilities for students. Four of the seven points forwarded by students last year to the Administration dealt directly with the refinement and extension of the handbook's definitions. Why is the handbook so important? Within it are the College's expectations of students according to community standards and an explanation for students of how the Student Conduct Committee works. There were concerns last year by survivors and activists that their criticism of S.C.C.'s training and the process of determining bias on the committee was debilitated because of the way the handbook is worded.

Passing knowledge on-beyond a single class

One the of concerns of students last year and in years past, has been that issues raised one year are often lost to students of the next. Students are here for four years, sometimes only three, and learning the Bates system can take an enormous amount of time. In order to facilitate change strategically and not statically, a pathway must be found to pass on knowledge, experience, and warnings to students in future classes.

The administration may not be able to lend structure to students for getting information from one class to another. When it comes to passing on insider lessons about dealing with Bates bureaucracy, the best, and some would say the only, way is for students to talk directly with students. To that end, and to provide another avenue of support for women on campus, a student group named "W.O.M.B.B.A.T." (Women Organizing to Make a Better Bates Atmosphere Together) has formed. Senior women form a mentoring relationship with first year women in order to network and pass on insight. Kate Osborne, a senior at Bates and member of W.O.M.B.B.A.T. specified that one of their goals is to try and offer another place for a first year woman to go if "a first year doesn't feel comfortable going to their JA, especially if their JA is of the opposite sex."

But what about men's involvement in student sponsored avenues? Katie Kessner, the speaker hosted by the dean of students Office to talk about her experience with date/acquaintance rape with first years last week, emphasized three times that men must get involved with rape related issues.

At that talk, and in assault related forums on campus long before last week, men have very noticeably been absent or few in attendance. In those forums that I have attended, what always strikes me is the support and compliments women give to men who attend and participate. Here are women dealing with at best an emotionally trying and scary issue present and real in their lives, and they go out of their way to spend their resources complimenting the men for attending. If nothing else, that dedication consistently to mentioning their appreciation signals to me how incredibly important, how powerful, and how needed the male voice on rape is. So where is the Bates male voice on rape?

In an attempt to get men into the picture, the Health Center is sponsoring a "Men Stopping Sexual Assault" dinner meeting next Monday (Sept. 28) in the Garcelon room. The Heath Center will provide some funding and support where it can, but the men involved would be the real impetus behind any male presence in this actively tackling this issue. Chris Tidsale, Director of the Health center said "For the last couple of years we've really been trying to get men more involved in issues of sexual assault on campus." Primarily, the Health Center's goal with Men Stopping Sexual Assault is to "ask for student help in getting the education and the message out to students around sexual assault and related issues."

Recommendations

So where do we go from here? The college is taking important steps towards reform and refinement and the administration seems acting in a timely fashion. Students, particularly those women in W.O.M.B.B.A.T., seem to be starting to take initiative for student to student connections and avenues-something the student body has neglected terribly in years past.

Philosophically the system needs desperately to become easier to understand. I cannot emphasize this enough. We have great people and wonderful resources already in place. But Bates is rife with offices, departments and jurisdictions. We cannot expect persons in need to always be able to find the resources for help under the present network of bureaucracies.-They do not now. There are people who cannot approach their JA because they are of the opposite sex and don't know any other advisor. There are scores of people incredibly intimidated by the system we use to raise assault or rape charges against a person. In other words, there are subtle systemic hurdles between the people in need and help.

Towards that end I suggest that we spend the time and the money to create a more formalized advocate system dedicated exclusively to coordinating all the different facets divided among offices right now. If that means creating a new staff position, let's do it. If that means removing other concerns from an exisiting position, do that. Right now we have S.A.R.L. and the JA for a person to initially talk to, then the Health Center for physical and emotional aid, the Dean of Student's office for the pressing of actual charges/filing a private report, and Judicial Educators and advisors to help navigate the S.C.C. That's a lot of people to find, ask for help, and coordinate with after you've been raped or assaulted.

Embedded in this issue are also conflicts of interests. The Dean of Student's office, which must maintain a balanced, almost neutral objectivity, cannot really reach out to either side in a conflict for fear of being seen as biased. We need someone to be a constant, and independent, anchor for the survivor to consistently rely on who doesn't have other important concerns (like confidentiality or the possibility of being seen as prejudiced)they have to worry about in their job.

Another recommendation I have is to include the Rape and Sexual Violence handbook prepared by the Committee on Sexual Violence in with the things already in the Student Handbook. Why are they separate?If it's for emphasis fine, that's wonderful, but repeat it anyway. Within that handbook we have fantastic definitions of consent, force, rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. Let's also expand the handbook to included Bates-specific scenarios that a student might experience-like the role playing the JA's and RC's did, except on paper, printed in the Handbookfor the whole student body to read.

What are my fears for the future? Pressure is one. The administration has expressed heartfelt sympathy, concern and commitment on this issue. But to keep the administration acting quickly takes reminders from students that this is an issue that will not go away. The message must be sent continuously that this is an issue with priority, where reform must be accomplished. Rape and assault still happen. They will happen this year. For every assault that goes on at this campus before reforms are made, there is a person who must experience the system without those important improvements.

Hopefully when the President's Task Force meets, they will address issues comprehensively, strategically (meaning thinking beyond this and next year), and with attention to detail. But let's keep a close tab on what they recommend to the President next spring, and what the President acts on after that.

But the most pro-active measure we can take is within our own student world. What are we going to do about our practices? Alcohol is a factor in so many of the assault and rape cases that have come before the S.C.C.. We abuse it so badly, then we create and support the situations where most often these assaults occur. We can't completely stop rape and assault by addressing situations involving alcohol, simply because the abuse of alcohol isn't the only way these crimes occur, but we can but a dent in these crimes by changing practice. Let's make it a priority that we watch out for one another when drunk, or better yet always have someone completely sober involved in our circles of friends when drinking. Be willing to intervene in questionable situations. Be willing to interrupt two people to make sure things are consensual, and don't worry about the embarrassment. Sound naive? Dorky? Boring? To much to ask? Then imagine living with the thought of your best friend down the hall experiencing this because "somebody" didn't step in. while everyone was drinking last night.