We were all drenched after the rainy night we took back last Friday evening during Sexual Assault Awareness Week (SAAW). I hope the fervor of the march, and that of the purposeful week, has not seeped underground along with the rain. Like many emotionally charged events at Dartmouth --such as the anti-prejudice rally in front of Parkhurst last winter and previous Take Back the Night marches -- when the deed is done the fervor seems to disappear, and we return to the usual Dartmouth grind.
Sexual Assault Awareness Week has passed. Now how do we gauge the impact of such efforts? Yeah, I hear ya, the same people are organizing these things and going to the same speeches and discussions and marches and stuff. Partly true. But these people are the ones that are committed to a specific cause, and the ones that are out there -- in some ways putting themselves on the line (depending on the cause) -- to affect change upon their friends and peers, and continually trying to get more people involved. They may not care what other people think, and some may not be well-liked, but they are among the ones trying to bulldoze over the old to make room for the new. Heck, this campus would still be locked in the cage of Dear Old Dartmouth if these types of people didn't bend apart the bars.
While this year's SAAW was no revolution, it was an outlet which showed some of us that change is surfacing on this campus -- a change involving men, and men affiliated with fraternities. There are plenty of men out there who care about such issues but are perhaps held back for one reason or another, whether due to time constraints or due to their fear of escaping their comfort zones. Heck, at first it was hard to take myself seriously while marching in the Take Back the Night march.
The same may be true for you while marching in the rain through campus yelling "Dartmouth unite, take back the night" -- among other anti-rape, anti-sexual assault slogans -- when you or a friend have not been victims of sexual assault. And it may be damn hard to understand the pain some victims/survivors have experienced --pain poignantly expressed in the Clothesline project assembled in Collis. During this year's SAAW, men were involved in the organizing committee. Men spoke in front of Webster Hall before the Take Back the Night march began. Men are now among the campus sexual assault peer advisors. Men -- Greek-affiliated and non-Greek affiliated -- marched alongside the many women. Yeah, even some of us 'frat boys' joined in on the slogan shouting. These are all little bellwethers of increasing concern and support, both of which are initial steps toward progress.
A friend of mine asked me to join the SAAW organizing committee. Sure, no problem. The people on the committee are just like you and me, it's just that they feel strongly about a certain issue. They don't bite. I went as a male concerned about this issue and also concerned about the reputation men -- especially men in fraternities -- carry. I thought I would be the only one involved, but others were also, whether directly in SAAW organization, or in other related programs.
Some men on this campus are making initial efforts to change deeply-entrenched stereotypes (instead of writing lame cartoons in The Dartmouth about them). These may involve their Greek house, or just general views of Dartmouth men being insensitive and homophobic. Some may even be on the road to activism --a different kind of activism which may not involve picketing, rallying or marching --but rather involving, perhaps, initially their friends or fraternity brothers.
But whatever the issue or event, commitment and consistency are critical. Half-assedness and waffling accomplish nothing. If you want to fight prejudice, join an anti-prejudice group on campus. If you think the group is lame, work within to try to change things instead of fleeing the cause. If you think The Dartmouth is lame, then, if you have the time and desire, join it and see what it takes to write, edit and produce a daily paper at a small college. If the Greek system's your gripe, try to be part of it and then see what you can do to change it. In getting involved, sometimes it's only the ego you will be wrestling with. Pin it down, extend the boundaries of the comfort zone and represent.
