Letter to the Editor: Sexual Politics at Harvard

To the editors,

I am writing in response to Sandra Korn’s column published on Wednesday, September 25th titled “Sexual Politics.”  The author highlights the role of student organizations—“especially those with extensive off-campus space”—in contributing to rape culture on campus. In particular, she used a painful incident from the Advocate’s recent history to illustrate the potentially dangerous power vested in student organizations and exploited during comp. As publisher of the Advocate and a peer educator for the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, I am grateful for the sincere urgency with which Korn has approached this set of common challenges. I am disappointed, however, by Korn’s defeatist conclusion.

Alexander J. B. Wells ’13 and Hana Bajramovic ’13, two Advocate members, proposed an OSAPR Student Organization Liaison program after a bystander intervention training at the Advocate last fall was met with great success. The proposal was motivated by a realization that OSAPR could have a powerful impact in the less formal domains of campus life.

OSAPR officially announced this program in a document circulated among student leaders last May. The document, written by the OSAPR staff, cited academic research indicating that socially active student organizations are uniquely poised to shape and reshape campus norms. The program will teach Student Organization Liaisons practical tools for creating safer social spaces on campus, in addition to encouraging cultural shifts in their organizations. The liaisons will serve as “role models of new attitudes and behaviors which will increase bystander intervention and decrease peer support for interpersonal violence.”

While history may run deep in student organizations at Harvard, social traditions ebb and flow with each new administration. Community culture is malleable: institutional memory in our organizations lasts three years at most. We all—and especially student leaders—have a personal responsibility to take an active role in changing institutionalized attitudes around sexual assault. With a few vigilant leaders in each organization heightening awareness and supporting survivors, we can create accountability as a community at large.

Korn and I spoke earlier this week about specific obstacles we have faced in our organizations. We have decided to continue the dialogue in an open forum about sex, politics, and power in student organizations two weeks from now. We hope to be joined by other concerned students because change necessarily starts with hard questions—and action must answer them.

Zoë K. Hitzig ‘15