College Sexual Assault Policy Revised

Author: Ian Fleishman

Kathy Foley-Giorgio, associate dean of student affairs and chair of the Sexual Assault Policy Working Group (SAPWG), emerged from Monday's Community Council meeting pleased. The Council had just approved substantial revisions to the wording of the College Handbook policy on sexual assault. This change results from nearly a year of work by Foley-Giorgio and SAPWG.
SAPWG is a study group that was established by Dean of Student Affairs Ann Hanson during the 2001-2002 year. The group was created in response to widespread campus concern over the current sexual assault policy to research and suggest improvements to the handling of sexual assault at Middlebury College. SAPWG consists of a number of deans, students and directors of different campus offices. On April 23 of this year, the SAPWG submitted a four-part recommendation to Hanson.
They proposed: (1) making changes to the language and structure of the current sexual assault policy; (2) considering the development and implementation of anonymous reporting of sexual assaults on campus; (3) adapting the current judicial process to make it more accessible to survivors of sexual assault and (4) developing plans to educate the college community regarding sexual assault policies and practices.
The Community Council approved the changes to the language of the sexual assault policy at Monday's meeting. These changes are contingent upon a final revision by College attorney Karen McAndrew. The 2003-2004 College Handbook will have a much clearer, positively worded policy on sexual assault. The emphasis is placed on letting students know that there are options of confidentially reporting sexual assault. According to Foley-Giorgio, the focus of the change is "making the policy language more accessible, and identifying the resources available and the level of confidentiality that is afforded with each person or organization so that a survivor of sexual assault would understand the implications of pursuing various options available."
SAPWG also suggested the possibility of implementing a system of anonymous reporting. Such a system of reporting sexual assaults is currently used at schools similar to Middlebury such as Bowdoin, Colgate and Wellesley Colleges. If implemented here, SAPWG hopes that Middlebury would adopt a system which offers both an on-line and paper version of an anonymous report form. The intent is to offer a system of reporting that will not inhibit survivors of sexual assault from coming forward.
Anonymous reporting would provide another avenue for a victim to inform the College of an incident, without an investigation ensuing. The hope is that this would give Middlebury a more accurate estimation of the amount and type of sexual assault that occurs on campus.
However, there are still concerns about the credibility of such a system. "We want to take the time to consider the issue fully, with input from the community and in consultation with the College's attorney, to determine if we want to establish a 'pilot' program to test the use of an anonymous report or not," said Foley-Giorgio.
The College will investigate this type of system further next year as it pursues changes in the judicial process regarding sexual assault. The faculty must ratify such changes, and thus no change can be implemented before next year. Hanson has asked that either the Student Government Association or the Community Council host a community forum next fall to discuss anonymous reporting and the judicial system.
This will help the College determine if current concerns about the judicial process with regard to sexual assault are warranted. It will also help the College decide whether to move forward with the recommendations for judicial reform suggested by SAPWG. "Our expectation is that the community forum would give us valuable information and insights into the issues and would allow us to make better decisions," said Foley-Giorgio.
However, according to Foley-Giorgio, by approving the rewording of the Handbook policy, the SAPWG and the Community Council have accomplished what they hoped for during this academic year.