Written By: Phuong Tran '15
Published in February 2014
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| President Batemen speaks at college forum. Photo courtesy of Phuong Tran |
“Hey, how are you doing?,” Boucher remembers asking. “Are you alright? You look. . . sad.”
Sensing she’d found someone she could trust, the female student, who has asked to be called Anonymous Survivor, revealed that she’d been the victim of a sexual assault in September of 2012. The alleged assailant was someone she’d considered a friend, and she’d waited until November of 2013 to report the incident to Assistant Dean of Students Ben Foster, who handles such complaints. Due to the complicated nature of the matter, and the amount of time that had lapsed, she’d been informed that the case would not be heard or even resolved until the following semester. The email she’d received from Foster explained, “We will set up a meeting with [Dean] Thornton to review the investigative report and discuss options for a hearing or a mediation when school resumes in January.”
That was not the response Anonymous Survivor was expecting, nor was it what followed. During winter break, she discovered that her alleged assailant had been expelled for academic reasons, not for sexual misconduct. “I heard it first as a rumor, then I saw it in a Facebook status of his,” she recalled. “My advisor officially validated it a couple of days ago, she said that she was on the council that decided to expel him. I felt very angry and disappointed with the administration. His getting kicked out for something as frivolous as grades felt like a slap in the face, as if the administration was saying that what he did to me wasn’t important or worth immediate punishment. I’m definitely relieved to know that he’s gone, but I feel invalidated and cheated out of my closure.”
The Dean of Students office is prohibited from commenting on any sexual assault or misconduct cases due to confidentiality concerns for both complainants and respondents. And, once a student has been expelled, the school no longer has the jurisdiction to pursue such cases.
On that day during finals week, Anonymous Survivor had spent several hours discussing her situation with Boucher. Their conversation continued online, with several other students joining in to discuss a potential response. Hoping to initiate a more serious and constructive conversation about sexual misconduct on campus, they created a blog, notabystander2014.blogspot.com, and a Facebook page, on which they shared their own as well as others’ experiences and voiced concerns about how the issue is handled at Randolph.
The blog launched a week before the start of spring semester, on January 16th. “I had wanted to create it because I had been hearing about rape on campus since first year,” Boucher explained. “And I didn't do or say anything about it — I thought the students concerned were dealing with it the best they could.”
In less than two weeks, the blog reached 4,715 page views. The map of visitors on the page shows that a wide range of people, on both the East and West Coast as well as from England, had logged on to the blog. Several alums emailed the bloggers with questions or words of support. Most importantly, the administration and an encouraging number of victims began to reach out to them as well.
On January 17th, Dean of Students Matha Thornton, Randolph’s Title IX Coordinator, contacted the bloggers, and asked if they’d be willing to work with the administration. To her disappointment, the bloggers said no. The issue was a major topic of conversation at a weekly senior staff meeting, held on Monday, January 27th. According to Thornton, there were concerns about misinformation on the blog, and the administration wanted to make it clear that sexual misconduct was being taken seriously, and that they were willing to work to resolve any problems. An email was sent to students, inviting everyone to participate in a dialogue about sexual misconduct policies and the blog on January 28th, in Smith Hall Theater at 7 PM.
In an interview with The Sundial prior to the campus-wide discussion, Thornton expressed measured support for the blog. “I think it is very courageous of the bloggers,” she said. “Voicing concern is good and there are certainly some positive things coming out of the blog. The more conversations we can have about sexual misconduct on campus, the more we can work together. However, my concern is that it’s all right if a survivor wants to share his or her own story, but it can be damaging if a survivor’s story is made public by someone else.”
Thornton also revealed that the administration had begun revising the College’s sexual misconduct policy prior to the creation of the blog. “This summer, 2013, we had a Task Force to rewrite the student policy. We brought together some faculty and staff, [including] Dennis Goff, Paula Wallace, Kris Irwin, Sharon Saunders, Ben Foster, and me to work on rewriting the policy. And then, I had an opportunity to work with an attorney, who is an expert in Title IX.”
Work on the policy has continued, as Thornton details. “Right now, we have a task force of students, faculty, and staff revising the policy for the second time. In about two weeks, a draft written by Abigail Smith and Tyler Gilchrist will be ready. We will then have a Task Group of 10 students review the policy. All responses will be taken into consideration for the second draft as well as for the final policy. Students should let us know if something is not clear or not working for them.”
Thornton also addressed a particular concern that has been raised on campus, namely that Assistant DOS Ben Foster is the investigator for both complainants and respondents in sexual misconduct cases. “He and I both went through comprehensive four-day training this summer for Title IX coordinator and investigator. Their model is that one person interviews everyone. That’s how the investigation works, and if that is not working for students, then they have to share that concern with us. I always encourage students to talk to me, or someone in the DOS, or someone they feel comfortable with on campus, if something has happened to them.”
And she responded to contentions that the number of actual incidents of sexual misconduct on campus don’t match the College’s 2010-2012 crime statistics report. “Director of Security Kris Irwin asks people on campus to let him know if they are aware of any kind of sexual misconduct, which he puts on a spreadsheet. I promise you that anything that has been reported to Kris Irwin has been placed on the spreadsheet.”
Thornton revealed that the College had applied for a federal grant for sexual misconduct training and education. Although they did not receive the grant, they have not been deterred. “President Bateman has been very supportive and he has given us all the resources that he can so that we can do what we need to be doing,” Thornton said. “Right now, we are doing our best with the resources and staff that we have. We are developing a more comprehensive support system. In the coming weeks and months, we will be implementing training to help administrators, faculty and residence life staff better understand how to support victims and survivors. Our Health and Counseling center staff has special training to help victims and survivors of sexual assault and other sexual misconduct.”
President Bateman opened the conversation at Smith Hall with remarks that echoed Thornton’s statements. “I welcome this call for this community to be better involved. I accepted this invitation from the people who created the blog and the Facebook page with the best spirit. There are things we can do better.”
He went on to stress that sexual misconduct can happen to both men and women. And, he addressed the inaccuracies on the blog, explaining that the numbers in the annual campus crime report are compiled compliant with the federal government’s Campus Security Act. “I want to tell you that Kris Irwin, our security director, has to report every sexual assault of which he has been made aware. Kris Irwin is a bulldog. He reaches out to anyone on campus who might have information and asks them to give him the information. I know that Kris has not dodged or changed the number.”
Bateman spent a large part of his speech talking about Title IX and how he has been personally engaged in helping to raise awareness about sexual misconduct and assault. He explained that in April 2011 the White House sent a letter to colleges announcing that sexual assaults would be treated as a Title IX issue. When Bateman took office last summer, he was not only new to the College, but he also had to deal with a “new” and rising problem of sexual misconduct. He shared that after he was chosen to be the President, he came back in the spring and talked to people on campus and discovered that the school was not as prepared as it needed to be for the challenges of sexual misconduct. As he explained, “We really need to put a different emphasis on Title IX issue. We need to raise our game here. I don’t think we are doing what we need to do here.”
After Bateman’s address, students were given time to ask questions, voice their concerns, and make comments. Some expressed a need for more education on the subject. Others made a point that sexual misconduct is not just an administrative problem, but a social, cultural, and structural one. To confront this issue, changes need to take place both from the top down and from the bottom up. The administration can revise the policy or provide educational programs, but these measures will fail to take effect if the students do not take on the responsibility of educating themselves, reporting misconduct, and telling the administration what need to be changed.
“I feel much better after this forum,” offered Anonymous Survivor after the meeting. “I think that opening this conversation with everyone in the Randolph community is a great starting point. People can't ignore rape and sexual assault here anymore. I think this could be the beginning of a lot of positive changes.”
In the week following the Smith Hall forum, notabystander2014 was taken down. It had served its purpose by bringing attention to an issue that remains of great importance to students, faculty, and administrators at the College. And, at least one of the blog’s founders, was concerned about any misinformation that might have been published on the site. As Mandy Boucher explained, “While I didn't really do my research and I feel horrible about that, the blog got people talking about the issue and gave others the opportunity to talk about their own experiences openly. The administration is doing a lot of work, but it’s a really difficult topic to find solutions to. The best thing to do right now is to make everyone aware: that it’s happening, that there are safe places to go when they need help, and that it’s ok to say when you need help.”
