- NCI takes on sexual assault
- Two-day symposium focuses on college rape culture
- Posted October 21, 2007
Statistics show that at least one in four college women will become a victim of sexual assault during her academic career. To improve those odds, college campuses across the nation seek strategies to eliminate violence against women.
The Newcomb College Institute at Tulane University invited top researchers and speakers to discuss this troubling topic during a two-day symposium, "Unveiling Secrets: Rape Culture on College Campuses." The symposium was Nov. 8-9, 2007 in Freeman Auditorium at Woldenberg Art Center on the Newcomb College Campus at Tulane.
The symposium speakers were Mary P. Koss, a Regents' professor at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona; Rana Sampson, a problem-oriented policing consultant in San Diego, Calif.; activist Jackson Katz, author of “The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help”; Sujata Moorti, chair of Women’s and Gender Studies at Middlebury College; Peggy Reeves Sanday, chair of the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania; and Mab Segrest, chair of Gender and Women’s Studies at Connecticut College. They will discuss topics ranging from theories of sexuality to the role alcohol and drugs play in sexual assault.
In addition, spoken-word artist Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, whose work is described as being “raw, evocative and insightful,” performed on Nov. 8, 2007.
“We are committed to guaranteeing a safe campus environment and thus true equality of educational opportunity for all our students,” says Rebecca Mark, interim executive director of Newcomb College Institute. “Given the fact that the latest statistics show the age group 18-25 most vulnerable to sexual assault -- many in the first few months of their college experience -- we need to act precipitously.”
Overview
Jackson Katz
“Approach violence as a men’s issue” is first on Jackson Katz’s list of “Ten Things Men Can Do to Prevent Gender Violence.” As one of America’s leading anti-sexist activists, this former all-star football player is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work fighting violence against women through prevention education targeted at men and boys, particularly in sports and the military. His book, “The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help,” is the first to convincingly argue that gender violence is a men’s issue and that all men should confront the misogynistic attitudes of their peers. Katz is the co-founder of the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Program, the leading gender violence initiative in high school, college and professional athletics. Since 1996, he has directed the first worldwide gender violence prevention program in the U.S. Marine Corps. He also is the creator of award-winning videos for college and high school students. The videos address issues of sexism and violence in relation to the media.
Watch Katz's Speech
Mary P. Koss
Mary P. Koss is a Regents' professor specializing in sexual violence at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. She discovered the phenomenon of date rape, which is now recognized as the most common form of rape on college campuses and as a serious problem plaguing today’s adolescents and young adults. She developed the Sexual Experience Survey (SES) to obtain self-reports from victims and perpetrators of sexual assaults in diverse locations around the world. Her current research focuses on implementing and evaluating RESTORE – Justice that Heals, a judicial program that seeks to reform selected sexual offenders. A clinical psychologist, Katz received the 2000 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy. She has written two books and more than 175 articles on sexual assault, in addition to twice testifying before the U.S. Senate and participating in congressional briefings.
Watch Koss's Speech
Sujata Moorti
As chair of Women’s and Gender Studies at Middlebury College, Sujata Moorti brings an international perspective to the college’s WAGS program and strives to incorporate gender studies into other areas of the college’s liberal arts curriculum. “If a liberal arts education is designed to help us become active participants in community, gender becomes an integral variable one has to take into account,” she told “The Student Weekly of Middlebury College.” While working as a journalist in her native India, she became aware of the systematic marginalization of women’s voices, knowledge and culture. Today, she researches the role of the media in engendering democratic public spheres. In her book, “The Color of Rape: Gender and Race in Television’s Public Sphere” (2002), she analyzes images of rape on television, showing how stereotypes of race and gender, particularly stereotypes of black masculinity and the perceived threat of miscegenation, shape contemporary attitudes toward sexual violence.
Watch Moorti's Speech
Rana Sampson
Rana Sampson is a national problem-oriented policing consultant and the author of “Acquaintance Rape of College Students: A Community Oriented Policing Services Guide No. 17” for the U. S. Department of Justice. Her work aims to help police and public safety officers understand date rape to effectively prevent its occurrence on college campuses. She is the former director of public safety for the University of San Diego, and has worked at the Department of Justice. For her work with the New York City Police Department, she received several commendations of merit and won the National Improvement of Justice Award. A graduate of Harvard Law School, she also has worked as an attorney and as a senior researcher and trainer at the Police Executive Research Forum. She is the co-author of “Tackling Crime and Other Public-Safety Problems,” which documents effective crime control efforts from around the United States, Canada and Europe.
Watch Sampson's Speech
Mab Segrest
Mab Segrest, Fuller-Matthai Professor and chair of Gender and Women’s Studies at Connecticut College, is a scholar, writer, and activist. She has three decades’ worth of experience in feminist, anti-racial, and lesbian/gay organizing. Born in Alabama, she realized her passion for advocating equality while watching the forced desegregation of schools. The 1979 killings of five anti-Ku Klux Klan demonstrators at a rally in North Carolina compelled her to action. In 1983, she helped to found North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence, an experience she writes about in her book, “Memoirs of a Race Traitor” (1994). She has published several books that address political and ethical issues ranging from the oppression of gay men and lesbians to searching for alternatives to the segregation South she experienced as a child. In 2006, Segrest and students from Connecticut College traveled to New Orleans to work with the Newcomb College Center for Research on Women on relief efforts directed toward and by women.
Watch Segrest's Speech
Peggy Sanday
Peggy Reeves Sanday is a professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. As an anthropologist, she has conducted research across the world, studying sexual inequality in more than 150 tribal societies and in the United States. Since 1981, she has traveled to Indonesia to study the Minangkabau people nearly every year. She has had seven books published on topics ranging from cannibalism to sexual violence against women. In “Fraternity Gang Rape: Sex, Brotherhood, and Privilege on Campus” (1990), she describes gang rape as “a form of male bonding for which the female is merely an instrument.” Her extensive research suggests gang rape occurs frequently on college campuses, yet the women involved rarely take action against the men who abuse them. In “A Woman Scorned: Acquaintance Rape on Trial” (1996), Sanday looks at the history of gender stereotypes and rape cases in the U.S. and Britain. She shows how rape traditionally has been a crime that places women on trial, and she envisions a new paradigm for sexual equality.
Watch Sanday's Speech
Kelly Tsai
Kelly Tsai is a spoken-word poet and playwright known for her work concerning rape, gender stereotypes and domestic violence. She has been featured at more than s225 performances worldwide including three seasons of HBO’s award-winning “Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry.” Her provocative lyrics address issues ranging from the war in Iraq to the politics of immigration to her experience as an Asian Pacific Islander American women of the hip-hop generation in a hybrid multicultural U.S. “Kelly’s poetry — raw, evocative, insightful — ignites your mind one moment and soothes your soul the next,” wrote Celeste Hamilton on Action Without Borders/Idealist.org. “Spitting out words with fierce lyrical prowess, Kelly challenges us to break free from our passivity to face the truth. She’s a contemporary visionary who is helping to change the world, one poem at a time.”
Click the image below for a complete schedule.
