Sexual Assault Is Our Problem

Throughout this current academic year, sexual assault and the procedural aspects of Harvard’s response to the issue have been featured prominently both nationally and on campus after the University's overhaul of its sexual and gender-based harrassment guidelines.

The new guidelines, which include expanding the jurisdiction of a central investigative office to hear cases of sexual assault across Harvard's schools, represent a step forward. This is not because the Faculty of Arts and Sciences' revised sexual assault policy explicitly bans relationships between professors and students—a fun fact that has occupied much of the national news media's attention—but rather because the University guidelines show Harvard's willingness to comply with Title IX regulations and consider the need for change on campus.

Policy change, however, will not necessarily translate into practical change. For Harvard truly to move toward being a safe space for everyone on campus, students and administrators alike must engage with fighting not just the procedural but also the cultural elements of sexual assault on campus. The onus lies with the students to create a climate where sexual assault is acknowledged and condemned, and where every member of the community is dedicated to speaking up and stepping in.

Creating this climate will take time, and it will take initiatives across the board that facilitate real education and real conversations.

One simple but important measure to help pin down what Harvard must address among students is the sexual assault climate survey the College plans to roll out on April 12. The survey, modified from an Association of American Universities survey, asks students a wide range of questions about sexual misconduct and affirmative consent—a standard we urged be implemented last fall when the revised policies were released. We believe that the information that comes from this survey will not only help deteremine additional policy prescriptions but also act as a gauge to understand the current outlook on campus sexual assault.

Economics professor David I. Laibson ’88, who is directing the survey for Harvard’s sexual assault task force, has stated that he expects only 20 to 35 percent of students to respond to the survey, and yet he hopes for a figure closer to 80 percent. Though Laibson’s statement is built on realism, it also paints a deeply disappointing portrait of our student body. Students have an obligation to participate in the survey and encourage others to do the same in hopes that their input may increase the collective understanding about sexual assault and its manifestations at the University.

A shift in procedure will not and cannot end a plague that threatens Harvard and college campuses across the nation. Neither will filling out a simple survey. But at least both measures represent movement forward. How fast we go and how far we get will depend on each individual student recognizing our responsibility to do better on a daily basis. That responsibility is one that should rest heavy on our shoulders, that should follow us into every classroom and every party, and that should not leave our minds until sexual and gender-based harassment and assault are widely discussed, widely denounced, and, we can only hope one day, wholly eradicated.