RELATED LINKS Sexual Assault Policies Revised APRIL 16, 2004
Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson announced last week that he would accept all changes to the Student Code of Conduct regarding sexual assault suggested by the Disciplinary Review Committee in late March. Among the changes is the reclassification of non-consensual penetration.
After the first day of classes in fall 2004, it will constitute a Category C sexual assault, as opposed to Category B sexual misconduct. This is a change that Advocates for Improved Response ethods to Assault, commonly known as AFIRMS, had been pushing for since last January.
Liz Ellcessor (SFS ’04), a co-chair of Take Back the Night and a member of AFIRMS, said she is encouraged by the outcome. “Nothing that matches the description of a criminal act [nonconsensual penetration] should ever have been in Category B, and the decision to move it shows the administration’s receptiveness to critique,” she said.
Olson also said he was pleased with the revisions.
“We’ve done a good job this year focusing on the fact that sexual assault is an issue you need to address as a community. It’s not a women’s issue, it’s a community issue,” Olson said.
The DRC reviewed the sexual assault policy this year at Olson’s request, after the campus community and multiple student groups including AFIRMS and the Sexual Assault Working Group had pressed for change.
Olson also accepted a change requiring that complainants will no longer have to face the accused. In future hearings, the two will be separated by a physical barrier, the logistics of which have not yet been determined.
“This can help make a really difficult process a little more humane,” Olson said.
For Gaelan Gallagher (COL ’06), a co-director of The Vagina Monologues and a victim of sexual assault and abuse, this decision is a mandatory one.
“I was raped my senior year of high school. He still lives in the same town I grew up in. If I even walk past him in the grocery store I get chills up and down my spine. To be in the physical presence of your rapist is absolutely devastating. It should not happen ever, and this is absolutely a necessary change,” she said.
Gallagher organized a rally on gender violence on April 5 in Red Square to bring attention to sexual assault occurring on campus. At the event, she spoke about a recent experience of being assaulted at a costume party two weekends prior.
Other changes include new and annual training for the hearing boards that adjudicate sexual assault and misconduct cases, as well as new sanctioning guidelines for the boards. In addition, a new definition of consent will be finished and put in place by the first day of the fall semester. While some suggested the idea of minimum sanctions, the Sexual Assault Working Group believes that minimum sanctions could result in less complainants coming forward, as respondents could file charges against them.
“I know AFIRMS was pushing for it, but I feel like every case is different. You can’t make blanket statements about rape. Imposing minimum sanctions is just not the appropriate way of dealing with it,” Gallagher said.
No changes have been made to the disclosure policy, despite the fact that Kate Dieringer (NHS ’05) and the non-profit group Security On Campus, Inc., filed a joint complaint with the Department of Education a year ago.
Dieringer had been raped by a fellow student her freshman year at Georgetown, and as a result, advocated change to the university’s policy on confidentiality agreements.
Current university disclosure policy requires that to know the outcome of the hearing, the complainant must sign a confidentiality agreement. Dieringer and Security On Campus say the policy goes against the Clery Act, which mandates universities publish their crime statistics.
“We put a high priority on these issues. We are in full compliance with the Clery Act. The clause allows universities to disclose that information, but Georgetown chooses not to do that. It’s not a requirement; it allows us to break confidentiality should we choose to. If we were out of compliance with the Clery Act then we would treat it more seriously,” Olson said.
This is a choice Gallagher does not support.
“In terms of disclosure, rape is a silent crime already. Our disclosure policy silences victims all over again,” she said.
But both Gallagher and Ellcessor are still pleased with the progress.
“I can only hope that changes like these make it a little easier for survivors of sexual
assault to take steps against their assailants,” Ellcessor said. “For now, I think that the changes that were made indicate really important steps, and that continuing in this direction may lead to a new disclosure policy.”
