- Symposium sheds light on sexual assault
- Posted June 4, 2008
When a group of Tulane University students, faculty and staff stopped business as usual Nov. 8 and 9 to tackle the troubling topic of sexual violence on college campuses, they did more than discuss the problem. They took positive steps toward a solution.
Their goal? To create a rape-free culture on Tulane's and other college campuses.
Top researchers presented statistics on sexual assault and offered guidance during the Newcomb College Institute symposium, "Unveiling Secrets: Rape Culture on College Campuses. " Open to the public, the free two-day event was in Freeman Auditorium at Woldenberg Art Center.
"The symposium was an impressive starting point for the Tulane community. For a moment, staff, faculty and administrators were gathered in the same room to discuss improving the campus climate for all students,'' said Rebecca Mark, interim executive director of the Newcomb College Institute. "We were able to listen to the top scholars and researchers in this field and to hear what they think works. We are ready, as a community, to begin implementing some of these best practices to end rape culture on our campus."
The newly formed 20/20 Vision Committee, a group of Tulane student leaders, devised objectives after listening to the concerns of fellow students at a Town Hall meeting during the symposium. The committee wants:
undefined To make sexual assault education a priority during orientation.
undefined To increase funding to programs designed to help and support victims.
undefined To encourage seniors to talk to freshmen about alcohol and drug abuse, which often leads to sexual violence.
undefined To lobby the Tulane Department of Public Safety to contact parents before students arrive on campus, and to hand out information on sexual assault during orientation.
undefined To lobby for a full-time office devoted to these issues and services.
"The symposium really brought to light the issue of rape on our campus and educated many on a subject few want to talk about," said 20/20 Vision Committee Chair Chelsea Motter. "The first step to solving a problem is addressing that there is one, and that's what the symposium did. The committee will reach out to other students and groups on campus as well as the administration."
Mark said she was impressed by the student response. "We had a full auditorium of students during a busy time of year," she said. "The members of the 20/20 Vision Committee did an exceptional job participating in discussions, introducing the speakers, and running the Town Hall Meeting. With these students as our leaders we will see dramatic changes in the future."
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, an anthropology professor at the University of Pennsylvania; and Mab Segrest, chair of Gender and Women's Studies at Connecticut College.
Each speaker emphasized that rape and sexual assault are about power and control, not sex. According to Jackson Katz, founder of Mentors in Violence Prevention Program, the key to reducing assaults is to help men understand that rape, stalking and sexual assault are their issues, not women's issues.
"Men have an incredible role to play in this. Feminists have been saying this for years," he said. "I think we need to raise the bar a little higher than just being a 'good man.' Just saying 'I'm not a rapist' is not good enough. We need more men with the guts to break our complicit silence. We need more men with guts to confront other men. It takes a whole lot of confidence for men to confront another man about his sexism."
According the U.S. Department of Justice, 90 percent of college women who are victims of rape or attempted rape know their assailant. The attacker is usually a classmate, friend, boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, or other acquaintance. Most acquaintance rapes occur when two people are at a party or studying together in a dorm room.
"It's OK for a woman to go to a man's room. That is a legitimate free thing for a college women to do," said Rana Sampson, founder of Community Policing Associates, a national consulting firm in problem-oriented policing. But society often blames victims of acquaintance rape for putting themselves at risk.
Therefore, it is imperative that "every college campus learns how to do acquaintance rape investigations very well," Sampson said. College "administrators and the rest of society are uncomfortable with acquaintance rape victims. Administrators need to change the culture and tolerance. The investigation up front is critical. We recommend a survey be done on your campus so that you have a sense of how much of a problem you have here."
At the Town Hall meeting, Tulane students addressed a series of questions, such as "What problems are we facing?" "What can we do as students?" "What are the steps we need to take?" They talked openly and honestly about a campus culture that glorifies excessive drinking, which often leads to sexual assault and rape. Because alcohol usually is involved, students are reluctant to report these violent acts.
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Students received practical advise from university counselors and professors during a panel discussion about alcohol and substance abuse. The five-member panel urged students to seek help immediately if they are raped or sexually assaulted. They also reassured students that they could file an anonymous report.
"I think there's a misnomer that once you go forward (to report a rape), it's out of your hands," said panelist Erica Woodley, director of Tulane's Residence Education and Community Standards. "With TUPD, it is nice half-step. You can go in and make a report and it can stop there. We want to remove all possible barriers of reporting. Faculty can even make a report" on behalf of a student.
The other panelists were Kimberly D. Crowley, head of the Substance Abuse Clinic at the Tulane Student Health Center; Shawna Foose, senior counselor at Tulane's Center for Educational Resources & Counseling; Dorien Mahoney, a member of the Women's Health Department at Tulane's Student Health Center; and Reginald A. Parquet, clinical assistant professor at Tulane's School of Social Work.
At the end of the symposium, which included a performance by spoken-word artist Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, the participants agreed that the issue of sexual assault on college campuses is multifaceted and requires a multifaceted solution.
"The people who can do the most about the problem, the administrators, are not here at night when all the drinking, etc., is going on," Rana Sampson said. "We must force our administrators to address this issue on an ongoing basis."
Students should step up as well, according to 20/20 Committee Chair Chelsea Motter, a Newcomb Student Programs intern. "Students need to take a step out of the Tulane bubble in order to realize the culture we are living in and not accept or perpetuate it," she said. "Awareness and education are the first steps. Students should push the administration to support efforts and should take it upon themselves to talk about it. As a whole, standards and expectations for behavior need to be increased among the student population."
According to Mark, one of the most exciting aspects of the symposium is that a rape-free campus is within our reach. "If every member of the community turns their attention to this issue, realizes the unacceptable nature of the problem, and begins to engage resources to this end, we will be able to boast a truly safe environment in the next few years," she said.
The Newcomb College Institute provides academic and co-curricular programs to enhance the education of undergraduate women at Tulane University. Established in July 2006, the Institute oversees Newcomb Student Programs, the Newcomb College Center for Research on Women and the Newcomb Alumnae Office.
