College Shorts

Amherst Student Publishes Account of On-Campus Rape (The Amherst Student)


A former Amherst College student detailed her experience of on-campus rape in an op-ed in the Amherst Student on Oct. 17. The 5,000-word piece, which was published with a “trigger-warning” due to its disturbing nature, was written by former member of the class of 2014 Angie Epifano describing her rape and the distressing lack of support she received from the Amherst administration in dealing with the aftermath when she sought help on campus.

By Epifano’s account, the school discouraged her from reporting her rape to the police, preventing her from changing dorms, and questioned her account of the events.

The article subsequently went viral within a few hours, causing the Amherst Student website to shut down from the high traffic and prompting an online discussion of rape on college campuses and the twitter trending topic #ithappenshere. The story resulted in an outflow of additional accounts of unreported rape, both at Amherst and other peer institutions.

President of Amherst College Biddy Martin issued a statement regarding the op-ed expressing her regret for the College’s failure to appropriately respond to the victim’s case.

“Sexual misconduct and assault are among the toughest and most consequential problems on college campuses and in the culture as a whole. Amherst is not alone in its struggles with it. But Amherst, given its values, its commitment to community and its size should be a model of education, prevention and effective response when violations occur. No student should be discouraged from reporting offenses or seeking redress,” said President Martin.

 

Online Supplement for Difficult Course Improves Grades (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

A historically difficult course at California’s San Jose State University is testing a new, video lecture-based class in order to ameliorate its student passing rate.

The system, called a “flipped classroom,” requires students of the Engineering Electronics and Circuits class to watch lecture videos produced by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on their own time, allowing for a discussion-based classroom setting during the scheduled class times instead.

The class is a pre-requisite course for furthering studies in the electrical-engineering major, but 40 percent of the students in previous semesters received a C or lower, causing concern among professors and forcing them to re-think their method of teaching.

The pilot program is being compared to two traditionally taught classes through examination scores and overall student experience. Halfway through a semester of the trial-run, the flipped section students are already showing positive results: the median mid-term examination scores of the 85 students were ten to 11 points higher than those of the other two sections.

Despite some student resistance to its fast-paced nature, the course will continue to explore the program through final examinations.