Adding emotion to sexual assault coverage
By Leah Williams
Published on Wednesday, April 11, 2007
I appreciate The Dartmouth Mirror focusing a whole section on sexual assault ("What are we talking about?; How Dartmouth responds to sexual assault," April 6). However, I must say it was disappointing. I don't think I learned a single new thing in the entire issue. We all know sexual assault happens on college campuses. We all know sexual assault happens here at Dartmouth. Yes, the definitions are tricky, but we all know that it happens.
Where's the emotion? This is personal, and affects every single Dartmouth student. You all know someone who has been assaulted, even if that person has not chosen to share that information with you. This is a small campus, and it is sickening to think that there have been 29 cases of reported sexual assault on this campus in the past three years. That is not just a number, or a statistic to use for an article. And we all know that there are far more actual cases that go unreported.
Those are 29 students on our campus -- students who may still be here, who walk around here every day. They are your sorority sisters, your fraternity brothers, your classmates, your floormates. Dartmouth is too small to make this just an intellectual discussion. This is very personal and very frightening.
Just as we know the victims, we also know the assaulters. They are also our sisters, brothers and classmates. When will we stop looking at the problem as a distant discussion topic? It is right in front of us. And it is our responsibility to do everything we can to put an end to this. We are all responsible. We need to start protecting one another.
Do not be scared to reach out to someone in a basement if they look like they are uncomfortable. Do not hesitate to hold an acquaintance responsible for his or her actions. It is uncomfortable, yes. But we are a small community, and we must look out for one another.
Nothing will happen if we choose to pat ourselves on the back every time we discuss the "issue" of sexual assault. We must make it personal, because it is, and to ignore that reality makes every one of us responsible.