Sexual Assault Awareness Week sees changes in College’s policy

Stephen Cheng Staff Writer

Last week’s Sexual Assault Awareness program coincided with significant revisions to the College’s sexual assault regulations, composed by the Committee on College Life (CCL).

Director of Health Education Michelle Soucy first proposed the revisions on April 4, to the regulations, which had input from various campus organizations including the Office of Health Education, Counseling and Assistance in Response to Rape and Exploitive Sexual Activity, to CCL. Last week, CCL voted the revisions into effect. The changes clarify the current language regarding sexual assault, stalking, and victims’ rights and will be published on the College Web site and in the 2007-2008 Student Handbook.

Class of 2008 Representative to CCL Jessica Swienckowski believes that the changes represent significant revisions to Vassar’s policies. “It came to our attention that these policies needed to be revisited after students involved in incidents on campus came forward and cited a lack of clarity regarding some of these issues in the regulations,” she said.

First, a new “sexual assault” category will significantly broaden the old denotation “sexual offenses” under Section 21 of the regulations. Soucy said, “We heard from many victims that using the word ‘rape’ doesn’t always apply to the circumstances, since sexual assault is not always sexual intercourse. So instead we went to a broader definition for our college regulations and used the term ‘sexual assault’ to encompass a variety of unwanted sexual behaviors.”

The term “sexual assault” will now be defined as, “the commission of an unwanted sexual act involving intentional non-consensual sexual contact with another person or sexual intercourse without consent through forcible compulsion or coercion.”

A second category, “sexual exploitation,” was established as well. According to Swienckowski, “sexual exploitation includes but is not limited to non-consensual video or audio-taping of sexual activity, allowing others to observe a personal act of consensual sex without the knowledge or consent of the partner, engaging in peeping tommery, voyeurism, and knowingly transmitting an STD or HIV to another student.”

The third category, “stalking,” has been revised to “be more inclusive of the types of behaviors we see on college campuses around the country, including a charge for cyber-stalking,” said Soucy. In light of the proliferation of cell phones, instant messaging devices, and social networking Web sites, Cyber-stalking has become an increasing concern on campus.

The revised policy also outlines victims’ rights, which include the right to serve as a witness for the College, the right to be present for the entire duration of the hearing apart from deliberations, and the right to submit a victim-impact statement during the last stages of the student conduct process. “Under the old regulations it was unclear what a victim’s role was in the judicial proceedings,” said Swienckowski.

The changes to the College’s sexual assault regulations were implemented following Sexual Assault Awareness Week on April 23-30. This week’s events featured a film screening, speakers, and interactive events to help raise awareness on campus. Well-known educator and activist Tony Porter lectured on Monday, calling on men to end violence against women. Porter is the co-founder of A Call To Men: The National Association of Men and Women Committed to Ending Violence Against Women.