The Coalition Calls: Will the College Answer?

In the past few months, the Coalition Against Sexual Violence has loudly demanded change, staging a rally and petitioning administrators in University Hall. And more than a year after the coalition was founded, changes may be on the horizon.

After researching other schools' resources for students who have been sexually assaulted, the group has presented a list of eight demands to the College that it says will help Harvard improve the way it handles sexual violence.

Topping the list is a women's center with administrative offices, a health-care clinic, peer counseling groups and a 24-hour rape crisis center. The coalition has also demanded that resident Sexual Assault/ Sexual Harassment (SASH) advisers undergo more comprehensive training.

After two meetings with the coalition last month, College deans have agreed to examine more closely the procedures for dealing with sexual assault and to consider creating a "safe space" for survivors. Additionally, College officials and SASH advisers are now considering changing SASH training.

But the higher-ups in University Hall and many undergraduates--some members of the coalition--still seem unsure about exactly what changes are needed and how much is feasible. While most acknowledge that the coalition's demands stem from justifiable concerns, the specifics still need to be resolved.

Until the coalition can provide a clear conception of each of their demands, the College may be slow to affect change.

Meeting of Minds

The last two meetings with University officials came after long months of struggle to gain administrative and campus attention.

Both administrators and coalition members say the increased communication is a sign of progress.

"I sort of felt like we didn't really move forward in this [second] meeting, but it's still really encouraging that they're being so responsive," says coalition member Kathryn B. Clancy '01, who is also co-president of the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS).

At the first of two meetings with College officials following their issue of the demands, several coalition members and deans discussed the first item on the list--the women's center.

Clancy says the women's center would be a place survivors could go for "someone to give them a hug and say, 'I care about you. Here's a place where you can sleep. Here are some resources and I can be a legal advocate if you want.'"

Clancy says a women's center is necessary because campus sexual assaults frequently occur in dorm rooms and survivors may not want to return to the place where the assault occurred.

College officials have suggested that at least one temporary solution may be to incorporate a "safe space" for survivors into an existing building.

"I think the safe space idea has some promise," Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 wrote in an e-mail message. "But we need to understand its purpose better and what other on-campus function it could effectively be linked with."

Still, neither side has compromised its position. The first meeting was concluded with an agreement that administrators would follow up the coalition's investigations into other schools' facilities.

In a subsequent meeting, shortly before spring break, the focus shifted to advising and University Health Services (UHS) resources. UHS chief of nursing Deborah A. D'Avolio used the occasion to explain facilities available through University health care. Clancy praised D'Avolio's presentation and approach.

"We also discussed Harvard's procedures for responding to someone in crisis, particularly, the medical and emotional support which currently exists," Assistant Dean of the College Karen E. Avery '87 wrote in an e-mail message.

A Helping Hand

The second meeting of coalition members and administrators also focused on the issue of SASH advising and the group's demands that resident tutors receive more comprehensive training.

Those whom the University expects to give the most immediate attention to sexual violence issues are often the least trained, coalition members say.

Each House or each sector of the Yard has at least one tutor "to serve as a 'point of first contact' for students who have concerns about sexual harassment and assault," according to the 1998-1999 SASH advisers' handbook.

Coalition members charge that SASH training is inadequate for the amount of responsibility the University places on advisers. The coalition demands a one- to two-day mandatory training at the beginning of the year--training which would include "all material which up until now has only been covered at monthly optional meetings."

They also ask for mandatory meetings at the beginning of the year, in which SASH advisers could explain their positions to students. In addition, it is the SASH adviser who is responsible for organizing dialogue about issues of sexual violence, Coalition members say.

But not all SASH advisers agree on the means of making themselves more effective.

While Lowell House SASH adviser Kirsten D. Sword "gets nervous at wondering how much responsibility people want us to take," other SASH advisers say they are not trained as professional therapists and do not try to fill that role.

"Our job is to listen to students and to provide them with information about what's available within the University," Catherine J. Toal, who is the Dunster House SASH adviser, wrote in an e-mail message. "Therefore, I think the training we receive is adequate."

Mario L. Small, the Mather House SASH adviser, says a key part of his role is knowing where to refer students.

"Part of your job as a SASH adviser is to know when to take it to someone who has more authority, training and resources than you do, so you certainly don't try to 'play therapist,'" Small says. "It's not like someone's going to go to their SASH adviser and the SASH [adviser] is going to solve all their problems."

Small says he thinks his previous experience in the field contributed to his selection as a Mather House SASH Advisor, and many SASH advisers say they have had previous experience handling issues of sexual violence.

Currently, there are monthly training meetings for SASH advisers that feature outside experts speaking on different issues. But coalition members say that since not all tutors attend every meeting, SASH advisers miss valuable training sessions.

Avery, who is also dean of co-education, admits that it is difficult to gather a large group of graduate students in one room at the same time, even once a month. But SASH advisers receive regular handouts regardless of whether they attend the meetings.

And Kirkland House SASH adviser Nancy M. Puccinelli says that in addition to the meetings, Avery herself provides enough advice and is a "tremendous resource." Puccinelli says she contacts Avery to ask for advice whenever a student approaches her with a problem.

Although Puccinelli says she is open to trying the two-day training session, she questions the need for such a lengthy program. She says the monthly meetings are useful for ongoing feedback and that the room is generally full.

Still, SASH advisers say the coalition's outspoken protests prompted them at their last monthly session to evaluate their training. In an e-mail message, Dudley House SASH adviser Kristin J. Scheible called the meeting "particularly fruitful."

And Avery wrote in another e-mail message that the College "will try to implement some training for [SASH advisers] at the beginning of the year."

Anna M. Baldwin '00, one of the coalition members who attended the last meeting with the deans, says the College is making progress in reviewing the SASH system.

"I think that some of the recent events and some of the press coverage have made them a lot more receptive to examining Harvard's current resources and seeing ways that they could be improved," Baldwin says.

Sword says the coalition is addressing important issues, but adds that although the group is "motivated by reasonable concerns," Harvard's decentralization may make implementing certain ideas difficult.

"I'm not sure how to mesh the demands with my cynical view of Harvard realities," Sword says. "They're being ambitious--some of the places it looks like they didn't do their homework."

Next On The List

Beyond a women's center and improved SASH advising, coalition members have demanded other changes, most of which have not yet been formally discussed with administrators.

Specifically, the group has asked for a mandatory first-year orientation on issues of sexual violence; the inclusion of questions about sexual violence in student surveys; more rape aggression defense classes; the creation of a position for a full-time survivor advocate; and an academic commitment to studying gendered systems of violence.

And stemming from the days when the coalition was founded following last year's high-profile case of Joshua M. Elster, Class of 2000, the group has also asked that University policy should include mandatory expulsion of convicted rapists.

Elster, a former Kirkland House resident, pled guilty in September to raping a female undergraduate in February, 1998. While Elster's case has not yet appeared before the Faculty, the Ad Board has recommended that he be dismissed.

Coalition members argued that a student who rapes another student should be expelled--forced to completely sever ties with the University. But in recent decades the Administrative Board has only recommended expulsion in cases of admissions fraud.

The alternative, dismissal, means separation from the College, usually for more than five years, with the option of petition for readmission--a move that requires the vote of the full Faculty. On March 9, the Faculty voted to dismiss D. Drew Douglas, Class of 2000, an undergraduate who pled guilty to indecent assault and battery last September.

But some SASH advisers and administrators say the coalition's demands can be unclear or impractical.

For example, while the coalition says a full-time advocate is necessary because "this crucial support cannot be found with [Avery] or the senior tutors," Lewis says it is important for the College to remain impartial in handling cases of alleged assault and to provide both parties involved in charges of sexual assault the same amount of support.

"It is important to understand this proposed role better," Lewis wrote in an e-mail message. "Victims of sexual assault do need support...we take these needs seriously."

"Of course we will react quickly to protect the safety of an individual or of the community when we have reason to do so, but prior to any judgement or finding or other form of assessment, I am not clear why one student should get an advocate of a kind that the other student would not get," added Lewis, who attended both meetings with coalition members.

Lewis also expressed concern about another of the coalition's demands: the inclusion of questions about sexual violence on mandatory student surveys.

"My first concern is pragmatic--it is very hard to get reliable information from surveys on personal issues," Lewis wrote. "Second...I agree with the coalition's statement that a single rape is too many; so I'm not sure what importance we would attach to the number of reported rapes being one thing or another, especially given the doubts about the reliability of the responses."

Regardless of how feasible it will be to implement the proposed change, coalition members say that by issuing their demands, they have raised eyebrows, voices and questions across campus.

"I think that students have become much more aware of rape as an issue on Harvard's campus--not something that's just such an isolated incident," Baldwin says. "Anytime you have something that encourages honest, real dialogue on campus, it's a positive thing."