Recent public scrutiny following several Title IX complaints and lawsuits at major US universities have forced campus sexual assault into our national dialogue. Title IX is the landmark civil rights law which states that any school receiving federal funding cannot discriminate on the basis of sex or gender. Several universities, including The University of Connecticut, Columbia, and Wesleyan, have been sued for their alleged failure to uphold the standards of Title IX. These cases, and the University responses, have inspired outrage among students desperate to be heard. One student has found a particularly creative way to get her message across.
Columbia University senior Emma Sulkowicz has vowed to carry her dorm room mattress with her everywhere she travels on campus. It’s been more than a week, and despite sore shoulders, Emma plans to do so until the university forces her alleged rapist to leaves campus.
Sulkowicz says she was raped in her own dorm room two years ago. After putting her case forward to the university alongside two other victims of sexual assault, she found herself yet another victim of unjust handling. The hearing committee, who she claims postponed her case unnecessarily, offered no consequences for her alleged perpetrator.
In a melding of self-expression and performance art, Sulkowicz has transformed her senior thesis project into activism, entitled “Mattress Performance: Carry That Weight.” Many Columbia students have joined her since her installation began, backing her protest in solidarity. Dozens help carry her mattress between classes and, just last week, hundreds participated in a peaceful protest of “We Will Not Be Silenced.”
Sulkowicz’s installation coincides with an especially dangerous time frame for students: the Red Zone. The term denotes a period of heightened vulnerability to sexual assault on college campuses, running from the first day of school through to Thanksgiving break.
According to the 2007 “Campus Sexual Assault Study” sponsored by the National Institute of Justice, more than 50% of incidences of campus sexual assault occur in these first few weeks of the fall term. A 2003 Department of Justice Report supports these findings, as does a 2008 study, “Risk of Unwanted Sex for College Women: Evidence of a Red Zone,” published in the Journal of American College Health. Freshmen are particularly at risk. They are often new to independence and naïve to real dangers lurking behind the university party scene. The story of Anna, a college student of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, is enough cause for concern.
The New York Times recently featured an article, “Reporting Rape, and Wishing She Hadn’t,” about Anna’s experience with the university investigation of her case. The article focuses on the lethargic, inconsistent, and dismissive handling of Anna’s case, ranging from failure to protect victim privacy to a general lack of support.
Anna’s story echoes that of Sulkowicz. And these stories align with the discontent I hear frequently from peers at the University of Connecticut. Since last fall, I‘ve witnessed controversy over decisions made by the University of Connecticut in handling the Title IX claims brought against it.
In the fall of 2013, five women represented by Gloria Allred filed a Title IX complaint with the federal Department of Education. In a prepared statement University President Susan Herbst called the allegations "astonishingly misguided and demonstrably untrue." Several weeks later a lawsuit was filed against the university, claiming the university was indifferent to sexual assault.
The case probed the University of Connecticut's management of sexual assault cases. Offenders were often not penalized, and permitted to remain on campus. In July the university agreed to pay $1.3 million in damages to the five women. The school refused to admit any wrongdoing.
Columbia University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and the University of Connecticut are not alone in receiving such scrutiny. In May, The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released a list of more than 50 higher education institutions, all of which fell under investigation for possible federal law violations regarding the handling of harassment and sexual assault complaints.
Schools under investigation include large universities like Michigan State and Temple, quainter liberal arts schools such as William and Mary and Amherst, and the Ivy League likes of Harvard, Dartmouth, and Princeton. Big, small, sporty, artsy, or academic—no campus is spared the horror of sexual assaults, because no campus is isolated from a larger culture that too often condones it.
The creative efforts of a dedicated staff and student team at the University of Tennessee (UT) offer hope for change on one campus. Sexual Empowerment and Awareness at Tennessee (SEAT) is a student-run organization that strives to educate the campus and greater Knoxville community through open dialogue about sex, sexuality, and relationships.
Though SEAT typically sponsors a “Sex Week” during the spring semester, the three reported sexual assaults on UT’s campus in just three weeks warranted immediate action. SEAT added a Red Zone Campaign to its programming. Vibrant posters reading the likes of “2:00 AM DOES NOT MEAN YES” and “REPUTATION DOES NOT MEAN YES” are now hung throughout campus buildings.
On Saturday the 20th, the campaign culminated in a “Red Zone Event”—an all day affair of workshops addressing sexual assault issues along with prevention and support resources. One “Bye Week Workshop” specifically discussed Title IX rights and the importance of bystander involvement.
Let’s not let the stories of Emma and Anna, of the UConn students, of the three UT students, and of so many more flare across the media only to die down after the Red Zone loses its buzz factor in the news.
With additional input from Garrett Connolly.
Sarah Luft is an editorial intern for Warscapes.
Image via The Nation.