You could hear the shouts from blocks away. Students, staff, faculty and community members yelled from the steps of Johnson Hall — signs in hand, demanding the administration’s attention. Their voices grew in volume, persistence. What they chanted for was clear: The end of patriarchy, the end of date rape, the support of survivors. The right for transparency. The end of institutional betrayal.
The rallies — organized by the student and faculty group University of Oregon Coalition to End Sexual Violence and hosted almost daily in the last few weeks— occurred after the sexual assault investigation that culminated in the removal of Dominic Artis, Damyean Dotson and Brandon Austin brought even more attention to the hundreds of others. Advocates also pointed out the fact that one in five female college students is a survivor of sexual assault. There were 39 reported cases of sexual assault on campus in 2012 — and that only includes those that have been reported. None of the cases resulted in expulsion.
What is at the base of all these chants is a yearning for something the protestors — and many others in the campus community and the country — deem necessary: answers. How will universities do better? How will we, as a community, as individuals, do better?
In short: Where will we go from here?
By now, it’s become a national question. In April, members of congress encouraged U.S. News and World Report to include campus violence in their university rankings, meaning that prospective incoming students would be able to browse a college’s teacher-to-student ratio, class average and number of reported sexual assaults — all in the same breath.
Ultimately, U.S. News resisted this push, insisting its rankings only focus on academics. That doesn’t mean efforts for greater attention to campus safety were completely thwarted: The Department of Education recently issued a list of 55 colleges nationwide that would be investigated for possible mishandling of sexual assault cases.
When it comes to preventing sexual violence on our own campus, some say we should begin by making sexual wellness education mandatory. At least, that’s one of the five demands the Coalition to End Sexual Violence made public to the administration on May 13, when its members also insisted the administration hold a press conference to address those demands — a conference that hasn’t happened. Specifically, the coalition asked the university to expand its multicultural general education requirement so that it includes at least one mandatory class that addresses gender, sexuality and social inequality in the U.S.
What a mandatory class on gender, sexuality and social inequality might do is get everyone on the same page when it comes to sexual assault. After all, not many would argue rape isn’t bad, but not everyone would agree on its definition — on what healthy consent, and healthy sex, constitutes. We might not have to look further than the last reported case to see the lack of sexual wellness education at work.
“As someone who stands by survivors, and believes survivors — I believe it was sexual assault — part of the police report made me feel that these three men did not think it was and didn’t go in to it thinking ‘we’re going to commit an act of violence tonight.’” said Sarah Ray Rondot, a women’s and gender studies instructor. “And that’s a huge issue in itself. Part of the problem with this case draws attention to our definition of consent — how we talk about sex itself.”
It could be argued that the university has made strides in this area. Just recently, it implemented a mandatory online training module, “Haven,” that all incoming freshmen under 21 would be required to take.
In addition, the ASUO Sexual Violence Prevention Center — a newly formed group born of the ASUO Sexual Violence Prevention Task Force — is working on a 4,000-person sexual wellness training module, one that its members would like to see implemented in Fraternity and Sorority Life. Though still in the works, coalition members would like to see sororities refuse a function with a fraternity unless a certain percentage of its members have completed the training module.
But some question the efficacy of online education — especially when it’s in regards to an issue as sensitive and complex as sexual violence.
“Programs like ‘Haven’ are treated like a risk-management program. They’re created by insurance companies. They’re thinking about ‘how can we not get in trouble,’ not ‘how can we truly prevent this from happening,’” said Marina Rosenthal, a clinical psychology doctoral student and member of the coalition. “I think the best way to educate students on sexual assault would be to do a full course for credits that’s giving value.”
In addition, many campus groups who are already leaders when it comes to educating students on healthy relationships and consent. The Sexual Wellness Advocacy Team, for instance, is well known for its educational workshops on sexual wellness. But Rosenthal argues funding is an issue.
“While UO likes to release press releases supporting prevention, it’s another thing to put your money where your mouth is,” Rosenthal said. “Campus groups are doing great work with not a lot of resources.”
ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz argues that it’s a bit more complicated than a mere lack of funds. He stresses that sexual assault prevention has always been the number one priority for the ASUO.
According to Dotters-Katz, every year the ASUO’s Sexual Violence Prevention Center — which works in conjunction with other sexual violence prevention groups, like SWAT — receives $45,000 a year in funding.
“I agree there’s not enough funding for these things,” Dotters-Katz said. “I don’t agree, however, that it shows that we’re not emphasizing this issue as an institution, and not just the ASUO. When one in five women on college campuses are raped, how can you ever say that we’re doing enough?”
Though he doesn’t deny the institution’s responsibility when it comes to sexual assault, Dotters-Katz wants to emphasize individual and communal responsibility when it comes to fighting rape culture on a day-to-day basis.
“It’s a constant every day effort, and it starts by looking at ourselves. Every time you saw a red-flag situation at a party, did you say something?” Dotters-Katz said. “Every time your friend made an off-color joke, did you say something? What have you done — first and foremost — to counteract the rape culture that exists on our campus and every campus?”
Individual empowerment and education are efforts the ASUO Women’s Center focuses on with their several annual campaigns a year — including last month’s Take Back the Night. However, increasing focus on bystander-intervention — what one can do in order to prevent a sexual assault from occurring in the first place, whether at a party or otherwise — is one thing Caitlin Corona, the sexual violence prevention coordinator at the ASUO Women’s Center, would like to emphasize in the future.
“We’re very good on the response end. I think that we, as a department and as a campus, we can definitely amp up our bystander intervention and help students understand how to better support survivors.” Corona said. “It’s a community issue and we need to tackle it as a community.”
And tackle we do — both nationally and locally. This Wednesday, the University Senate will host an open campus forum aimed at developing a plan of action for ending sexual violence on campus.
If one thing’s for sure, it’s this: the chants are becoming harder to ignore.