Coalition Seeks Grant To Combat Sexual Violence

When Sarah B. Levit-Shore ’04 talks about red tape, she cannot help but get excited—waving her hands for emphasis and speeding up her speech.

Levit-Shore, a leader of Coalition Against Sexual Violence, often admiringly notes how during a campaign by a group of Columbia students three years ago to get better resources for sexual assault victims, students wore red tape on their backpacks to symbolize the bureaucratic red tape they felt was impeding change.

Such a protest movement would not be out of place at Harvard, Levit-Shore contends.

And she is not the only student on campus who believes there is a problem with Harvard sexual assault policy.

More than 56 percent of undergraduates surveyed by The Crimson this past weekend said they think the Administrative Board handles sexual assault cases poorly. More than 70 percent of the 408 students polled said they have a poor understanding of how the Ad Board handles sexual assault.

Sixty-two percent said they think there should be more education about sexual violence and just over a quarter said they would not know whom to call if they were sexually assaulted.

But Levit-Shore has no plans to slap red tape on her backpack any time soon.

Instead of focusing on putting public pressure on administrators, she has decided to work quietly within the bounds of two enormous bureaucracies—Harvard and the federal government.

The coalition is in the process of preparing an application for a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. The money is earmarked annually by the government for combatting violence against women on college campuses.

Levit-Shore has the backing of the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS) and more than 20 new members of the coalition, which has traditionally been a very small group of female activists.

But new members may not help Levit-Shore and coalition veterans in completing the massive application—which exceeds 50 pages—and in rallying skeptical administrators to the cause.

Ultimately, the coalition’s application will succeed or fail not only with the approval of the Department of Justice’s Violence Against Women Office, but also with that of Harvard’s powers-that-be. The government stipulates that applications for the grant must come from Massachusetts universities—not from student groups.

And though the coalition has a significant ally in Diane Rosenfeld, a fellow at Harvard Law School who was instrumental in pushing through the 1994 legislation that made the grant a possibility, some administrators are unsure there is enough time to complete all the necessary requirements.

But Levit-Shore remains optimistic that the coalition can gain the approval of Harvard’s top administrators and the cooperation of multiple University bodies in time to apply for the grant, which is due on April 30.

Race Against the Clock

Despite the coalition’s larger membership and Rosenfeld’s backing, it will not be easy for Harvard to win this year’s grant.

With the federal grant application due in less than a month, coalition members have been scurrying about in pursuit of administrative support for their project.

Levit-Shore says that meetings with Assistant Dean of the College Karen E. Avery ’87, Special Assistant to the Dean of the College Julia G. Fox and Provost Steven E. Hyman have shown the administration to be supportive of their goals.

Coalition members spoke to University President Lawrence H. Summers during his office hours yesterday. Levit-Shore calls it a “really positive meeting,” though she declines to comment further on Summers’ specific response to the grant proposal.

But Fox says that she has only been aware of the coalition’s plans for a week and that the task of demonstrating collaboration with everyone from local law enforcement officials to health care providers seems a large one to accomplish in less than a month.

“Anything that involves the whole University is pretty extensive,” Fox says. “Both Dean Avery and I have encouraged them to apply as a student group, but my feeling is that it’s very much in the preliminary stages.”

Fox says that since the grant is given out annually, if the University cannot meet this year’s deadline, it could apply next year after more work is done.

While Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 says he is not against applying for the grant, he cannot say whether he will support the coalition’s proposal until he has seen the finished application.

The grant application requires that applicants show a need for the grant in addition to specific plans for using the grant money to improve sexual assault policy and resources for sexual assault victims.

According to the application, the government rewards collaboration among different branches within a university—including campus victim services providers, campus security, faculty, staff, administrators, offices of the dean of students, women’s centers, the athletic department, student groups, campus housing, fraternity and sorority life coordinators, health care professionals, campus clergy and local law enforcement and prosecution agencies.

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst won the grant in 2000 and Tufts University won it in 1999.

Growing Momentum

Coalition Against Sexual Violence leaders have been willing to take on this ambitious project in part because of increased interest in their group this semester.

“I’m really heartened by the support I’ve seen in the community coming to coalition meetings,” Levit-Shore says. “Coalition has made a number of pushes, submitted a number of reports, and I feel like now there’s a lot of energy and a lot of anger and we need to use that.”

One reason the coalition’s membership has tripled in the last two months is that RUS has made fighting sexual violence one of their two main goals this semester.

Natalia A.J. Truszkowska ’04, co-president of RUS, says the group felt sexual violence was one of the most pressing—and potentially overlooked—issues for women on campus.

“It’s one problem among many for feminists and it’s one problem among many for people who are socially conscious,” Truszkowska says.

Coalition members point to the discontent caused by Lewis’ announcement that the Ad Board would be investigating fewer sexual assault cases, beginning this fall, as one reason for increased interest in the issue.

“This is currently a crisis situation, because Dean Lewis has said the Ad Board can’t do anything with these cases,” Rosenfeld said at a panel discussion on sexual assault policy last night.

And because of the increase in membership from about 10 students to over 30, the coalition has been able to split its members into two groups: one to research other universities’ policies and one to deal with administrators and postering campaigns.

Besides the grant application, coalition members are working on a report to the administration outlining their full demands, as well as a compilation of testimonials from women who have been sexually assaulted at Harvard.

The most important new member of the coalition is undoubtedly Rosenfeld.

A former senior counsel in the Violence Against Women Office, Rosenfeld has said it is a priority of hers to help the coalition design and implement an ideal sexual assault policy for Harvard.

Rosenfeld says she is committed to creating a “model campus sexual assault policy” for Harvard within the next two years and would like to an see an improved education program for first-years in place by the time the Class of 2006 arrives in the fall.

“Universities have the authority to enact effective policies and certainly have a strong interest to do so,” Rosenfeld says. “We’re talking about the education opportunities of half the students. [Sexual violence] impacts [women’s] learning opportunities.”

Rosenfeld actually introduced the idea of applying for the grant to the coalition and has been helping the group deal with administrators, according to Levit-Shore.

Rosenfeld says she has already set aside time in her schedule next year to assist the coalition in pursuing reforms in sexual assault policy.

“At the dawn of President Summers’ administration this is a great opportunity to forge a leading role in this area,” Rosenfeld says.

Future Plans

If the University receives the grant, the coalition has no shortage of ideas about what could be done with $200,000.

Levit-Shore says the coalition’s current goals are to improve the College’s sexual assault education, resources for sexual assault victims and the Ad Board’s handling of sexual assault cases—all of which she sees as inadequate.

Just as Rosenfeld stresses the importance of improving education immediately, Levit-Shore says the approximately 20 minutes about sexual violence in the general safety meeting for first-years is not enough.

“They hand out this kit that’s really helpful and really well-researched and you’re with 500 people and everyone’s really awkward,” Levit-Shore says. “If you asked anyone what happened, no one has any idea.”

Levit-Shore says improving education about sexual violence is a “no-brainer.” Ideally, she says, there would be at least three educational sessions, held in small, sex-segregated groups.

Levit-Shore also feels that the resources for sexual assault victims should be more centralized. Currently, students who are sexually assaulted have multiple options in seeking help, including the Sexual Assault Sexual Harassment tutor in their House, their senior tutor, Avery or peer counseling groups such as Response.

“Only the survivor can take that first step, but once you make that call there is no reason you should have to work,” Levit-Shore says.

With the grant money, Levit-Shore would hope that Harvard would hire one or two full-time employees who are trained to deal with victims of sexual assault who would be on-call 24 hours per day.

Levit-Shore also wants Harvard to employ a survivor advocate to help victims pursue punishment for their assailants through the Ad Board.

“If we got this money and we got these experts and we got these new programs, it would be an amazing passing of the torch from a student group to professionals,” Truszkowska says. “It’s a job that Coalition’s been doing for a long time, but on the other hand it’s really something that needs to be done with a lot of money and professionals.”

—Staff writer Anne K. Kofol can be reached at kofol@fas.harvard.edu.