Report Calls For Sexual Assault Office

A committee investigating Harvard’s sexual assault policy will release sweeping recommendations today, advocating the creation of an independent office to address sexual assault prevention through more stringent training and education on the issue.

The committee—which was not mandated to address the College’s disciplinary procedure for sexual assault cases—also recommends changes to the way the Administrative Board handles sexual assault complaints, emphasizing the importance of an independent fact finder and training for all members of the Ad Board in handling peer-to-peer disputes.

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 charged the committee last May with reevaluating the College’s services and education on sexual assault, on the heels of protests by students over a Faculty vote to require “sufficient independent corroboration” for the Ad Board to hear a peer dispute complaint.

While the dean did not specifically charge the commitee with reevaluating the College’s Ad Board policy, members of the committee said procedure for investigating sexual assault complaints is too intertwined with prevention of sexual assault to overlook it.

The main focus of the report is a new Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, which will centralize treatment services for victims of sexual assault and will provide an expanded preventive education program.

“The office has material and symbolic importance because Harvard is committing resources, paying three staff members and giving it physical space,” said Alexandra Neuhaus-Follini ’04-’06, a member of the Coalition Against Sexual Violence (CASV). “Hopefully it will really translate into people having better experiences, and be part of a larger cultural shift.”

Committee members expressed confidence that many of the recommendations—including a new Freshman Week education program and the creation of the office—would go into effect as early as this fall.

The report’s suggestions were future-looking, placing an overwhelming stress on training, awareness and education. By emphasizing recommendations that would create a more responsive approach to the issue of sexual assault, Committee Chair and Professor of International Health Jennifer Leaning said she hoped, “that five or 10 years from now the community feels very different.”

Prevention and Discipline

Committee members said they felt it necessary to address the Ad Board procedure—breaking the bounds of their mandate—because students they consulted consistently expressed concern over it.

Leaning said she believes the Ad Board members care about the issue, but a lack of time, training and communication with students have hindered its ability to adjudicate sexual assault complaints.

The report recommends the College make more use of a “single fact finder (SFF),” or independent investigator, to search for information on sexual assault complaints.

“Our intent was to make sure that students who claimed that they had been assaulted had certainty that their claim would be investigated,” said Professor of History of Science Everett I. Mendelsohn, a committee member.

The committee further suggests specific training for Ad Board members on sexual assault—addressing a long-standing complaint of CASV.

“There was some discussion about training and whether that would bias the board, but if training is about process and procedure to help better adjudicate peer disputes, it’s more than appropriate,” said Jared M. Slade ’03, a committee member.

CASV members said they felt the use of the SFF would help allay fears that the corroboration requirement inspired about the standard for a complaint to be investigated thoroughly.

Committee member Sarah B. Levit-Shore ’04, who is also a member of CASV, and Slade both said the College should more fully examine the Ad Board.

An Office of Its Own

The Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response—meant to be “neutral, safe, physically inviting, and easily accessible to undergraduate students”—will organize the supervision of sexual assault prevention education and treatment under the same roof for the first time, according to the report.

The office will house three employees—two full-time and one half-time—who will coordinate the College’s educational outreach programs and Freshman Week education.

Currently, Susan Marine, who was hired into the new position of coordinator of sexual assault prevention and services this fall, is the main College administrator in this role.

The office’s director will act as a liaison for students bringing sexual assault complaints forward.

“Education and support services need to be coordinated through a central nervous system, one with access to important college power brokers, students and clinicians,” said Leaning.

While counseling for matters related to sexual assault will remain a function at Undegraduate Health Services (UHS) and the Bureau of Study Counsel, the new office will help students seek out the best treatment option.

The part-time employee will be a resident tutor or proctor, and will be primarily in charge of working with men’s groups including social clubs and athletic teams.

“Male social groups need to realize we fall under the ‘high risk’ classification nationally, and so additional training can’t hurt,” said Slade, who is a also a member of the fraternity Sigma Chi. “Groups should hopefully receive that additional education with open arms.”

In fact, the committee recommends annual training for almost everyone on campus who must face the issue of sexual assault, from student counselors employed by the new office, to residential and SASH tutors and even House masters.

An education coordinator will be in charge of formulating a new education program, including a night of preventive education during Freshman Week—separate from the Safe Community Meeting—and eventually a sophomore program and worskshops for student leaders.

CASV member Alisha C. Johnson ’04 said that the isolation of sexual assault on its own night during Freshman Week would keep it “from getting lost” among other issues.

But she said she still hoped the upperclass education would become mandatory.

“When events are not mandatory, the people who go to them are the people who are already aware, and that limits the impact education will have on community as a whole,” she said.

Implementating the Plan

The Faculty will debate the report’s recommendations during its May 6 meeting and vote on them during its May 20 meeting.

Despite the expansive recommendations of the report, CASV members said how the College implements them will be the real test.

The committee has already recommended in its report a mechanism for future feedback, a separate advisory committee to continuously evaluate the success of the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response.

Levit-Shore said the precedent begun by the committee’s solicitation of student opinion on the sexual assault policy should not be forgotten by the future committee.

“We’ve gotten warm and encouraging reception from senior officers responsible for making this happen,” said Leaning. “It’s been acknowledged that what we’re talking about is important and I’m hopeful that this really can happen.”

Levit-Shore said she particularly saw the recommendation for the new office as a long-awaited step forward.

“It shouldn’t take several rallies and five years of student outrage to start fixing things,” she said. “Hopefully we’re starting a new page of Harvard history.”

—Staff writer Sarah M. Seltzer can be reached at sseltzer@fas.harvard.edu.