Editorial

Sexual Assualt Policies Still Unsettled

The hands-off approach the College has had toward sexual behavior and alcohol education has proved to be insufficient. The necessity to present more consistent vehicles for educating students about responsible behavior has become evident, and it needs to continue on beyond first-year orientation programs like “Sex at 7:30.”
It is completely unacceptable that the College’s most visible form of education on the topic of sexual assault is a short production during the first week that new students are on campus. It is important that the subject is tackled right away so that new students can be introduced to dialogue on the subject. However, “Sex at 7:30” fails to attain the level of seriousness that is warranted by the issue, and furthermore, new students are dealing with too many other new experiences to make full use of the program.
As it stands, “Sex at 7:30” is also grossly misleading about the amount of College-initiated dialogue pertaining to sexual assault on this campus. The College makes its token mention of the dangers of sexual assault as early as possible in students’ careers at Oberlin and then leaves the responsibility for any follow-up or more in-depth discussions to student groups like SAST — which is an excellent resource, but cannot provide as much consistency from year to year or time and resource commitment as a College staff member could.
The administration is finally approaching the idea of prevention education with the creation of the new Sexual Assault Education Coordinator position. “We have been too focused on policy and putting demands on policy that no policy can meet. Our Task Force is putting emphasis on prevention. Policy cannot prevent sexual assault,” President Nancy Dye said. (see article page 1)
This shift in approach to become more involved in education that is oriented towards prevention as well as dealing with policy to handle actual sexual assaults is a good move on the College’s part. As President Dye noted, too much is being asked of the policy because until now, the College has only been involved with incidents of sexual assault after they happen. The administration cannot sit around and wait for a rape to occur and then run out and try — key word: try — to clean up the mess.
The College may have made a good move in getting involved in preventive education, but they should be careful not to give up on looking into the actual sexual assault policy. The fact that there are students who are survivors of sexual assaults that feel that the Administration did not give adequate support immediately following their being attacked is one that should not be forgotten. These survivors may not dominate the dialogue — for obvious reasons — but their concerns cannot be overlooked.
The Administration’s reactions to sexual assault on the Oberlin campus has been wholly ineffective and unacceptable at times, and they should not be allowed to absolve themselves of responsibility by making perfunctory changes to alcohol or sexual assault policies.
The correlation often drawn between sexual assault and alcohol, while not always completely irrelevant, skirts around the real issues surrounding sexual assault. Redesigning campus alcohol policy is not a sufficient response to sexual assault. It is essential to stress that the presence of alcohol does not and cannot absolve attackers of their responsibility for the offense. However, it is also pure delusion to pretend that Oberlin College does not have a serious alcohol abuse problem. This is another area where the College would benefit from being more active with preventive education.
Hopefully the creation of the Sexual Assault Education Coordinator will lead to some constructive dialogue on this campus. In the past, student groups — such as SAST or the newly formed Men Can Stop Rape — have seemed more concerned and willing to participate in such dialogues. The coupling of administrative and student run educational programs to balance leadership roles between authoritative and peer figures is a crucial first step in looking into sexual assault on the Oberlin Campus.
But it is just that, a first step. A reassessment and revision of Oberlin’s sexual offense policies needs to stay on the agenda of the Task Force formed by Nancy Dye last semester.