Sexual assault at Wesleyan University has been a concern almost since the school went co-ed in 1968. Over the past twenty-five years, the changing attitudes of the students and the administration towards this highly sensitive and emotional issue have mirrored the changes in attitude of American society at large. By looking at the history of sexual assault at Wesleyan, we can hope to better understand how the present-day situation came to be and what we can do to prevent sexual assault in the future.
Misinformation and Silence
The first reported sexual assault at Wesleyan occurred in September of 1973. In October of the same year, the Women’s Center sponsored a seminar on rape that included victims’ perceptions and the difficulties they endured in the aftermath. This was the first seminar held on campus that dealt with this subject. At that time, rape was a rarely discussed and often misunderstood issue. Few people, off campus or on, were aware of the pervasiveness of acquaintance rape, and there were only two hospitals in the whole of the United States that had counseling centers for rape victims.
Bringing the Issue to the Light
In 1980, several events unfolded that brought the issue of sexual assault to the forefront of the minds of both the student body and the administration. On May 6, 1980 students held the first Take Back the Night rally at Wesleyan. Eighty women and ten men attended the event. Two days later, Public Safety announced a change in its practices from the traditional posting of building guards to a walking and driving patrol of campus. Previously, Public Safety had assigned four officers to patrol the campus, but the spots were rarely filled. A few weeks after this change, a Public Safety officer was transferred to another university after forcibly kissing a female student.
On August 26, 1980 an incident occurred that would spark great controversy on campus. A female student entered a fraternity to visit a friend. One male student approached her, and another picked her up and kissed her. The female student made it clear that the men’s actions were not wanted, and they let her go. She filed a complaint against the two men with the Student Judiciary Board. The SJB found the male students guilty of violating the section of the Code of Non-Academic Conduct dealing with harassment and abuse and suspended them. The students appealed their case to President Campbell, who reduced their sentence to disciplinary probation. In response, several students organized a petition objecting to the President’s pardoning of the men. President Campbell defended his decision saying that the men had no way of knowing that their actions would be met with such harsh consequences
Following these events, the faculty drafted a resolution asking the Student Affairs Committee to create a task force in order to study sexual intimidation, harassment, and assault on campus. SAC published its findings in July of 1981, concluding that the existing judicial mechanisms on campus were “adequate” for dealing with sexual abuse among the student body. It also concluded that the wording of the Code of Non-Academic Conduct, which contained all degrees of sexual violations including harassment and assault within the words “sexual abuse”, did not need to be changed. This position was defended in 1986 in a memorandum by the Dean of the College Edgar F. Beckham.
Attempts to educate the student body about sexual assault were stepped up in the mid-eighties. On October 12, 1984, following a sexual assault on campus, Public Safety released bulletin advising students to use the escort service and the shuttle. On April 24, 1984 a Day of Awareness was held to educate the Wesleyan Community on a variety of sexual issues including rape, pornography, and sexism. It wasn’t until 1986 that the first workshop on acquaintance rape was initiated at Wesleyan. That same year Associate Dean of the College Denise Darrigrand denied allegations that the administration discouraged rape victims from going to the police. Her declaration followed the release of a study that was conducted by the administration on the history of sexual offenses on campus. The study documented thirty-five reported incidents of sexual abuse in the preceding ten years, including seven assaults. The following year, Director of Health Education Carol Grant organized the Wesleyan Coalition to Prevent Sexual Abuse.
Perhaps the most aggressive actions by students to change the administration’s policies on sexual assault were taken in the fall of 1986 when a group of female students began interrupting admissions tours to voice their dissatisfaction with the administration. The students stressed in their speeches that they liked Wesleyan and that the problems they were discussing were not limited to the Wesleyan campus. The changes they wanted to see included mailings to the student body every time a sexual assault was reported, better lighting on campus, and the establishment of a separate Student Judiciary Board to deal with sexual assault cases. An article in the Argus at the time stated that the Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg was annoyed by these disruptions, but it did not say if any disciplinary measures were taken against the students involved. The Beginnings of Change
All of the above measures led to greater awareness about sexual issues on and off campus. In 1990, the seventh Take Back the Night was held at Wesleyan, this time drawing two hundred fifty participants, more than twice the number of participants that attended the rally the first time it was held. Yet students continued to express dissatisfaction with the way sexual assault cases were handled by the SJB. Two female students who had brought their cases to the SJB stated that the questions they were asked were “silly” and “insensitive.” In 1993, the Assessment of Sexual Assault Policy Task Force conducted a survey in which two hundred fifty-nine students reported experiencing sexual abuse in their time at Wesleyan. The study also found that only three percent of sexual assaults had been reported to the administration or the SJB. The members of the Task Force recommended that an official definition of “sexual abuse” be included in the Code of Non-Academic Conduct. In addition, they recommended that all SJB members undergo educational and sensitivity training in regards to sexual assault, and that there be a system through which students can lodge complaints of procedural mishandlings by the SJB.
The last substantial act taken by the administration concerning sexual assault occurred in the wake of the passing of Megan’s law. Megan’s law is named after seven-year-old Megan Kanka who was raped and killed by a convicted sexual offender who was living in her neighborhood. The federal version of the law requires states to inform residents when a convicted sexual offender moves in their area. After the law was passed in 1997, the University notified the entire student body in a mass e-mail that a convicted rapist had moved into a house near campus. The e-mail included the man’s name and address, which went beyond the requirements of the law. A New York Times article at the time noted that the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union had criticized the University for its decision. The response from the student body was mixed. Some students said that the information would help them to better defend themselves while others felt that it violated the man’s civil rights.
Twenty-seven years after the first reported case of sexual assault on campus, we can try to take stock of all that has happened. It is difficult to sort out the multitude of memorandums and articles on this issue and to understand what they mean for us now. It is clear that many things have changed for the better in terms of education and awareness of the issues surrounding sexual assault. It also seems that many things have stayed the same. Students still express unhappiness with the administration and with what Public Safety can do to protect them. Still, it is heartening to see that in these years sexual assault has gone from an issue discussed only hesitantly and outside of the public forum to one of which all students are made aware, for only through open discussion can we hope to bring about change.
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