As issues of sexual violence on campuses increasingly garner attention and headlines, two young women—a current student and an alumna of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—are calling on universities and colleges across the nation to “connect the dots” and deal with the problem by making comprehensive changes in institutional procedures for responding to and handling complaints, as well as changes in campus mind-sets.
For too long, said Andrea L. Pino, a junior majoring in political science and English, institutional efforts to improve campus policies relating to sexual violence have been carried out mostly in a reactive and localized way. “We see the bigger picture,” she said. “There are other universities where this is happening, and there are other survivors out there.”
Ms. Pino and Annie E. Clark, who graduated in 2011 after majoring in political science and now works in Oregon, are two of five women who have filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights that accuses the university of underreporting incidents of sexual violence and failing to protect their rights as survivors of sexual assault.
A campus spokeswoman said in an e-mail that the university had not released a statement regarding the accusations in the complaint because it had not yet received a copy of the complaint from the Office for Civil Rights.
Ms. Pino and Ms. Clark say the insensitive and intimidating institutional procedures they encountered after reporting assaults have been echoed at other colleges where incidents of sexual violence or harassment have caused a public outcry and protests.
At Amherst College last spring, a former student published an account of her sexual assault and an institutional response that left her feeling ashamed and alone. The year before that, Yale University was investigated by the Office for Civil Rights after a high-profile incident in which a group of fraternity pledges repeated a sexually aggressive chant.
Attention in Congress
Ms. Clark said she believes that now is a time when calls for reform will stick. “There’s something different about the climate right now,” she said. “It feels different than 2007,” when she was assaulted.
Recent actions on Capitol Hill suggest she may be right.
Last week Congress approved a bill renewing the Violence Against Women Act (S 47) that incorporates the first major campus-security legislation in years, the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act, which is known as the Campus SaVE Act. President Obama has said he will sign the bill into law as soon as it reaches his desk.
Supporters of the Campus SaVE Act—including notable organizations such as the Clery Center for Security on Campus, the American Association of University Women, and the VTV Family Outreach Foundation—say the measure will put in place and strengthen much-needed policies on reporting and preventing sexual violence on campuses, and protecting its victims.
The Campus SaVE Act includes provisions for amending the federal campus-crime-reporting law known as the Clery Act to add dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking to the crime statistics that colleges are required to report. It also includes components reminiscent of the 2011 “Dear Colleague” letter from the Education Department that spurred many institutions to re-examine their policies. That letter laid out recommendations for sexual-assault prevention and awareness programs, which the Campus SaVE Act now requires of institutions and provides instructions on developing.
“We’re not merely talking about risk reduction anymore,” said S. Daniel Carter, a project director with the VTV Family Outreach Foundation and a longtime campus-safety advocate. The ultimate goal of the programs, he says, is to “eliminate cultural norms that tolerate sexual violence.”
Ms. Pino and Ms. Clark say their work for better campus policies and procedures has been a near-constant effort—joining in the complaint to the Office for Civil Rights, giving joint interviews, counseling college administrators who have sought their advice, blogging for The Huffington Post, and interacting with other victims inspired by their efforts.
Ms. Pino is also a founder of the group Survivors and Allies for Empowerment and Reform (SAFER) Carolina, a group of Chapel Hill students and members of the faculty, staff, and community that has an online petition demanding changes in the university’s policies. The petition includes calls for an investigation into the university’s compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination at institutions that receive federal funds, and for stronger disciplinary action against perpetrators found guilty. It has more than 4,000 signatures so far.
A Campaign in Michigan
Ms. Pino and Ms. Clark are not the only ones working for change in campus policies and attitudes about sexual violence and harassment. In Michigan other student activists say they’re already seeing their efforts meet with success.
Elisabeth Hindert and four peers began the student-led “I Will” campaign at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor to increase awareness of sexual violence and support for its victims. Ms. Hindert said the campaign had received total support from the university, working especially closely with the athletics department and the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center.
With a Facebook page boasting hundreds of “likes” and a few successful events under their belts, Ms. Hindert said she and her “I Will” colleagues were fielding calls from other institutions interested in establishing their own campaigns. Part of what makes her group’s efforts unique, said Ms. Hindert, is that supporters see the campaign as a pre-emptive effort, trying to educate students in order to prevent future tragedies.
The tactics parallel approaches outlined in the Education Department’s “Dear Colleague” letter and the Campus SaVE Act, and they’re not new to the Michigan campus, said Holly M. Rider-Milkovich, director of the university’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center. She said her office helped the institution present workshops on sexual-violence issues to all of this year’s new freshmen, discussing issues like bystander intervention and consent.
The “I Will” campaign and the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center are working together on more events, and the student group is also playing host to “coffee-shop conversations” to encourage discussion and to combat misinformation surrounding sexual violence, Ms. Hindert said.
“People don’t like to talk about it,” she said. “But the more people talk about it, the more it becomes less taboo.”
Years of Frustration
Ms. Pino and Ms. Clark, of Chapel Hill, echo Ms. Hindert’s sentiments of openness, but also say they talked for months and didn’t feel as if anyone was listening. They say their complaint against the university is the result of years of frustration and obstruction.
“At first we were seeking justice for our friends on the university level,” Ms. Clark said. But since then, the effort has grown into something much bigger. It’s about every campus, not just the one at Chapel Hill, she said. And, though compliance with the Clery Act and Title IX is important, it’s about more than that. “We have to have a larger conversation outside of the legal realm about how we treat each other,” she said.
Looking back, Ms. Pino said this month marked one year since she was raped. In the months that followed, she experienced posttraumatic-stress disorder, hurt, and a lot of frustration, she said. But as she considers the future, Ms. Pino speaks resolutely about advocacy work that she and Ms. Clark are pursuing. “I don’t think it’s a single-issue solution,” she said. “This is the beginning of many steps that need to be taken.”