Search for Gardner-Quinn ends tragically UVM student death raises concern about crimes against women

Author: Dina Magaril

The recent murder of University of Vermont student Michelle Gardner-Quinn has provoked professors and local community organizations working to stop violence against women, to urge individuals to question why such tragedies continue to occur in local communities.

Gardner-Quinn's murder is one of several recent national news stories involving violence against women, including the murders of five Amish girls in Pennsylvania and one girl in Colorado.

But while these cases have attracted national media coverage and shocked communities across the nation, many argue the attention has failed to incite a deeper discussion on the role of the victim's gender in each of the crimes. Associate Professor of Women's and Gender Studies Sunjata Moorti identified a connection between Gardner-Quinn's death and this trend.

"The murder of the UVM student [is] part of a larger continuum of violence committed against women and girls, not just in the U.S. but on a wider global scale," said Moorti. "The UVM murder is part of a larger epidemic that erupted most recently in the Amish, Boulder and other school shootings."

According to Bethany Pombar, the training and outreach manager at The Vermont Network Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, "The problem is that we continue to fail to address the root causes [of violence against women]." Pombar pointed out that initially media coverage of the Colorado shooting failed to report the crimes as being gender crimes.

"People weren't talking about it in the right context," said Pombar. "If the killer had been targeting a specific race or religion, people would have talked about it as a hate crime, but since it targeted a specific sex, it wasn't seen as a gender crime."

President of Women of Color (WOC) Morgan Richardson '08 commented on the long history of violence against women in our society.

"It is important that people understand that the recent events in violence targeted towards women are not new. Women have been affected by such violence for years, even on the Middlebury College campus," said Richardson. She went on to discuss a misconception held by much of the student body regarding what does and does not happen on campus.

"I think that because our community is rather small and believed to be 'safe' people do not assume that any form of sexual/physical violence occurs on campus, when in fact women have to deal with the fear of being violated every time they walk home from the library at 1 a.m., or attend a party on the weekend," said Richardson.

Willow Wheelock, a staff member at WomenSafe, a local outreach program in Addison County devoted to helping victims of sexual and domestic violence, spoke about the need for an open forum in which conversation might be held about the recent murders. "It is imperative for people to engage in conversations about sexism, masculinity and men's use of violence against women," said Wheelock.

Wheelock encouraged discussion, and urged that new and different questions be discussed. She argued that the focus needs to be diverted from what women can do to better protect themselves to the more important question of why men continue to commit these crimes in the first place.

"Rather than continuing to ask the questions, 'why did she?' it is time to ask, 'why did he violate her?'" said Wheelock. "Putting the focus where it belongs, with the perpetrators of violence, is the only way a community can adequately address violence in its mist."

While these issues deserve serious contemplation there are more immediate steps the community can take to improve on overrall safety. A Middlebury police officer offered a few practical suggestions on personal safety.

"Use caution. Some of the jogging routes go into some pretty rural and remote places," he said. The officer was not particularly aware of any trend like the one Moori pointed out, saying that he did not believe the amount of attacks on women had increased significantly in the community.

"We have our share of sexual assault, but fortunately not a lot. We don't see a trend," said the officer.

Karin Hanta, the director of Chellis house, agreed with Wheelock's views and believes that open dialogue at the College is one of the strategies the Middlebury community could take to focus on prevention of crimes against women.

"What is needed at Middlebury is a concerted effort of the entire Middlebury Community to make the bubble even more air-tight," Hanta said. She suggested that the College join other campuses around the U.S. in providing a blue lights network, where one light would be placed in viewing distance of the other. While there are some blue lights scattered around campus, the system is not as extensive as it should be.

Hanta also suggested a safety training program for female students that would educate them on defense strategies in case of outdoor attack.

While Moorti agreed with Hanta's support of the blue lights, she focused on the work needed to improve the community's overall attitude.

"I would like [UVM and Middlebury] to address the larger cultural issue of the ways in which power is manifested through sex," said Moorti. She talked about the switch of focus from the war in Iraq to one that would deal with "how the militarization of civil society facilitates such violence against women [and] how the larger cultural climate naturalizes certain violent acts."

Though all the women interviewed agreed that education about issues of violence was a key to prevention, Pombar was quick to add that the responsibility of holding open conversations had to fall on the entire community, not just specific organizations devoted to feminist issues. "All of us need to be responsible for all of us," she said.

Moorti holds a similar view and stressed the importance of involving both sexes in the discussion.

"Most men are opposed to these acts of violence but they often remain silent or are not included in conversations," she said. "We need to make male students aware of how our society tends to articulate masculinity with violence and teach them different ways of being masculine."

The wider global problem of violence against women is highlighted in the international campaign entitled, "16 Days to End Gender Violence Against Women," which will take place from Nov. 25 to Dec. 10. "There are a number of crimes committed against women of color and poor women and girls that remain hidden," said Moorti.

It is this invisibility of the issue that women like Wheelock and Pombar are trying to bring to the front.

"It is a community's responsibility to recognize what cultural and societal norms exists that foster a tolerance toward gender violence and it is the responsibility of each person in a community to challenge these social norms so that violence is no longer accepted," said Wheelock.