I agree with this article except the part that starts talking about the ills of same sex spaces going co-ed.

Good job, Hunter. for once, you made sense.

If you’re going to insult an organization, please be clear in your facts. Though I can’t speak for COSSA, as a member of the SPCSA board, I can confidently say that we not only meet regularly (anywhere from once to three times a week), but are proactive and consider transparency one of the foremost goals of our organization. If you’d like to speak to me about how to improve that, I’m all ears, but to write this in an oped without any facts or examples to cite is irresponsible.

“Additionally, the petition asks for “all existing social spaces [to provide] equal opportunity for people of all genders to own social space and host campus social life.”” I didn’t read this as requiring the elimination of all single sex housing, but rather as speaking to creating equal opportunity to own social space and host campus social life (e.g. encouraging more sororities and hopefully local sororities as they are the only all-female social spaces on campus that function like the fraternities do). I think that it was worryingly vaguely stated, however, I do not think that is what it was advocating on face.

Please fact check – these groups DO meet regularly, among other misstated assumptions. If this petition is not students taking the initiative to change their concepts of gender and power, I don’t know what is.

No concrete steps for how he feels we SHOULD address issues on campus – whether it be sexual assault, or anything else, is put forward. It seems he’s advocating a “people have to change themselves” strategy, where no committees are needed, but simply the fact that this hasn’t happened shows just how much student and administrative initiatives are necessary.

I applaud the efforts of these students, they are actively seeking to address issues on this campus instead of accepting that things are simply the way they are and we are not responsible for our peers.

“Despite any arguments in favor of single-sex social spaces, one needs only look at Alexandra Essey’s recent essay (“Through the Looking Glass: Frame of Reference,” Nov. 9) to understand that forcing single-sex Greek houses to become coeducational is neither realistic nor sensible and is in the worst interest of the larger social environment at Dartmouth.”

That is not a valid counter argument to making the Greek system coeducational! Also that’s not exactly what the petition calls fr!

Dartmouth prides itself on a tradition of camaraderie, teamwork and the passion and drive of its students, and it is with these same values that we will persevere and eventually decrease the troubling rates of sexual and physical assault.

Because the status quo will change things “eventually?” What a weak ending to a overall pretty okay piece.

Just try harder!

Max, thank you for sharing your opinion. The conversations that have come out of this petition are exciting to see.

I agree with you that there is a certain “oversaturation” at Dartmouth regarding sexual assault. Isn’t it amazing that this problem is in the D every week, and yet we see no change on the issue? This is why the petition calls for the end of not only the perpetration of sexual violence, but its normalization as well. People on this campus have ceased to (or never did) care that rape and assault affects at least a quarter of our female population, and a sizable group of males as well. This complacency must end.

I also agree with you that the root of the problem is our society’s troubling understanding of gender and power. This is why the petition calls for feminist consciousness. An understanding of feminism and feminist theory is the only way we can empower our community to question current gender paradigms and structures of power. Employing a more critical and complex dialogue on gender is the only way we can address the gender-based violence that plagues our campus.

Despite our agreement on those two points, I take issue with your analysis here, and especially with your hateful attitude against activists on campus. (Also, your Lifetime comment is egregiously misogynistic.)

Where you are misinformed:

Firstly, when the petition calls for the “Transform[ation of] all existing social spaces into safe environments for students of all identities, and providing equal opportunity for people of all genders to own social space and host campus social life,” we are not asking for Greek houses to be dismantled or even made co-ed. We are calling for safer social spaces and our right to equal opportunity. Title IX grants female students the right to access the same amount of spaces and resources as our male counterparts in educational institutions. Such equity is obviously lacking at Dartmouth, given the number of fraternities versus sororities and, more importantly, the number of fraternities able to host social events versus sororities with those privileges.

Secondly, with regards to the other proposal you quote (“creating and enforcing zero-tolerance policies toward interpersonal violence of all types, particularly sexual assault”), the COS has a poor reputation because it often fails to protect students. When survivors of rape step forward and see their rapists remain at this school, under probation or after one term’s suspension, there is no choice but to lose faith in our systems of adjudication and College at large. A zero tolerance policy towards violence would help our community take a firmer stand. People (like you) who discuss false accusations of sexual assault are incredibly misinformed and unsympathetic.

Thirdly, you should know that the SPCSA has met every week for the past two years, and has annually produced a series of recommendations to the administration. Though these recommendations have been largely ignored, we are trying to do our part.

By the way, what do you do on a daily basis to end violence on this campus?

Elizabeth Hoffman, ‘13 Co-author of the WGST 80 Petition Chair, Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault Sexual Abuse Peer Adviser WISE Crisis-Line Advocate Survivor

I must have missed it but where are your proposed solutions to the problem? Despite what your reality suggests, petitions have been proven to be effective in affecting change and I hope this one in successful in that regard. Also if we’re going to talk about the real world, in the real world people go to prison if they rape someone despite their family’s affluence. I hope Dartmouth listens to its students and makes some changes. Also, I’m glad to see you acknowledge that the petition has “a sound point or two,” but you might as well keep your mouth shut if you’re going to offer such stark criticisms without any solutions of your own. Bravo Stella et al.

“Contrary to the belief of some, everyone is against sexual assault.” I am fuming.

Max Hunter, are you aware of the fact that sexual assaults still occur on this campus? Even assuming that you are excluding perpetrators of sexual assault from this oversimplified cop-out, this statement reeks of privilege—the privilege of not needing to engage in the conversations and systems that are working to support survivors and prevent sexual assaults. We cannot settle with assuming that everyone knows that sexual assault is bad—though that is still one necessary level of the conversation. We need to also acknowledge the systems of oppression that are ingrained in this very institution. That is why it’s still necessary to demand that “the College eradicate vague and socially systemic issues of “sexism, homophobia, prejudice and violence.” They may seem vague to you, but to me the are subtle and very real; they are pervasive and haunting; and they most definitely nourish the souls that perpetrate sexual assaults and the spaces that let it happen (without holding themselves accountable). It seems that you’re blind to the complexities of this demand.

You’re right. Pieces of paper, ribbons, and the unity of students who care about this issue will not directly end sexual assault or revolutionalize the minds of students who believe that they are doing their part by simply knowing that sexual assault should not happen. But petitions, markers of allyship, and student groups are part of a force that is trying to change the culture of Dartmouth, trying to motivate our administration and community members to think differently and support that way of thinking. This intentional effort should not be dismissed and devalued by someone who assumes what “everyone knows.”

peace.

“Much like hazing, we will only see a decline in sexual assault once we see students take the initiative to change their personal concepts of gender and power.” HOW do you propose this will happen? Let’s be real. Change like this does not magically happen! How many Dartmouth students go through their 4 years without ever having to question or challenge their own positions of privilege and power? Probably most. This is why we are proposing a serious incorporation of self-reflection into our academic curriculum. The proposal is addressed to the administration, not the student body. Of course, students must also be held accountable, but we cannot change gender-norms if we don’t recognize them, let understand them!

Our proposals are in no way flawless. However, they are a result of a term’s worth of intense research and 3+ years worth of personal investment and experience with this issue. You should not claim that these changes “do not adequately get to the heart of the problems underlying sexual assault” if you are not ready to provide tangible alternatives.

In case anyone would still like to sign the petition, here is the link.

https://www.change.org/petitions/administration-of-dartmouth-college-build-feminist-consciousness-at-the-college-in-order-to-end-the-perpetration-and-normalization-of-sexual-violence?utm_campaign=mailto_link&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition

I agree with Hunter. The petition is well meaning, as are the posters responding to this article. I only have two things to say.

First is merely a stylistic thing. Using terms like “feminist consciousness,” “normalization of sexual violence,” and “empower our community to question current gender paradigms,” among other phrases, obfuscates the meaning of what you’re trying to say and dulls its impact. It reads like the traditional academic-doublespeak that you see in the humanities rather than a rather than talking right down to earth in a language that everyone can easily understand. Although, if WGST 80 thinks this is the best way to go, then maybe they know better than I do.

To cut to the meat of the issue, people need to talk about what their end-game goals are, in concrete terms. Like Hunter said – most people will agree that sexual assault is a problem whenever it occurs. But what are people proposing to change it? Do people want a strict liability system? No-evidence guilt? Permanent separation for everyone found guilty? A lot of people on this campus don’t believe that more “discussions” and “forums” will help anything, probably with good reason. Hunter may not have put out any solutions of his own (as commenters are pointing out), but saying you want to end sexual assault is not a solution. It’s a goal.

Hey Max, check out this very well-timed piece: http://thedartmouth.com/2012/11/13/opinion/hassan “Just because one goes to an Ivy League school does not make one incapable of being racist, homophobic, bigoted, sexist or insensitive. It does not make this institution and the administration that governs it incapable of accommodating a very real and silencing culture of apathy.”

There is an active minority of students who seek to increase the rate of sexual assault…those that rape people. To pretend that because we’re at Dartmouth, misogyny and active support of patriarchal structures that allow sexual assault to continue are non-existent is the grossly misinformed Ivy League exceptionalism that Sheikh-Hassan discusses.

“This is the real world, and in the real world sexual assault is far too complex an issue to simply solve by demanding the College eradicate vague and socially systemic issues of “sexism, homophobia, prejudice and violence.””

Unfortunately, Max, these vague issues are the root cause of the problem, and they need to be afforded respect and serious consideration. It is difficult to come up with concrete solutions to nuanced problems, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore them and cede dialogue to people who don’t really care about the issue. Why shouldn’t the college try to solve those problems? This is an ivy league school, and it should be held to a high moral standard. We should be using the education that we are receiving here to craft solutions to problems that are traditionally dismissed because they are too “vague” to merit consideration. Unless we address problems that are slippery but VERY REAL to the queer and female members of the undergraduate population, they’ll just continue.

“Contrary to the belief of some, everyone is against sexual assault. ” Well, Max, obviously not the perpetrators. Why is sexual assault such a common occurrence if campus sentiment is so feminist?

Your article is an overly simplistic response to an admirable effort on the part of campus feminists, and it represents one more attempt to silence the female voice and to write off our problems as “vague” or “silly” just because you don’t experience them. Homophobia and sexism affect me and my friends on a daily basis, and I both expect and deserve to live in an environment that does something to change that.