Dear Pendulum Editorial Board,
As members of the university community who have significant responsibility for Elon’s response to and prevention of incidents of sexual assault on campus, we are always encouraged by student efforts to keep this crucial matter at the forefront of campus conversations. There is no substitute for student activism in the ongoing struggle against both the horrifically high rates of sexual assault on college campuses and the rape culture that implicitly or explicitly condones, minimizes, or, at its worst, even celebrates sexual violence.
We are concerned, however, that members of Elon’s community – most importantly, survivors of sexual violence – may come away from reading your editorial with a significantly inaccurate understanding of the many initiatives that Elon’s administration has spearheaded, funded, and championed over the past decade or so. These initiatives have resulted in an approach to response to sexual violence incidents that follows best practices in the field and includes a consistent, focused attention to prevention.
Perhaps most obviously, Elon now provides one full-time staff member (Jessica Clark, Coordinator for Violence Response) whose primary responsibility is to provide support for community members in the wake of incidents of interpersonal violence. Ms. Clark’s work is supported by two on-call responders who are available on the weekends, thus ensuring that any community member in need of expert, immediate assistance after a sexual assault will receive just that. An advocate is available 24/7 through Safeline (336.278.3333), Elon’s confidential support line. Our survivor-centered approach informs the confidential support and advocacy available to victims and survivors through any course of action that they choose or do not choose to pursue.
In addition, Elon provides a full-time staff member (Becca Bishopric Patterson, Coordinator for Health Promotion) who devotes a majority of her time to developing and implementing educational programming designed to challenge rape culture and thus prevent incidents of sexual assault. Here is a brief list of the kinds of prevention programming that Ms. Bishopric Patterson has provided to a variety of university constituencies in just this academic year: supervision and support of the efforts of the campus program, SPARKS Peer Education and the student organization, Elon Feminists (EFFECT); production of the Live The Maroon Life skits for all first year students during new student orientation; training for student leaders including Resident Assistants, Greek House Captains, Orientation Head Staff, Watson-Odyssey Scholars and common leaders; facilitation of violence prevention and response workshops to Elon 101 classes, Greek organizations and Athletics; participating on the Male Identity Project to increase conversations about healthy masculinity at Elon; facilitating awareness events like Walk A Mile in Her Shoes in partnership with Family Abuse Services and Alpha Chi Omega, Couples Chemistry to promote healthy relationships, the Consent is Sexy campaign, the Clothesline Project and Take Back the Night; holding monthly “Response Ability” workshops through the Center for Leadership’s LEAD Program; participating on the state-wide Campus Consortium led by the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault; presenting Elon’s peer education model at the BACCHUS National Assembly as a national “best practice”; applying for grants to fund further violence prevention and response work; bringing nationally acclaimed speakers such as Mike Domitrz and Harlan Cohen to campus; and finally, collaborating with Elon students, faculty and staff to provide funding and support for efforts to prevent violence on campus such as the annual “Tunnel of Oppression.” The focus of these efforts reinforces the three pillars of violence prevention work: supporting survivors of sexual violence, motivating students to be active bystanders, and promoting a campus environment in which effective consent is understood and respected in every student’s experience.
In providing two full-time staff positions that largely focus on sexual violence, and in separating the response responsibilities from the planning/prevention responsibilities between those two positions, Elon University is, if anything, ahead of the curve in terms of resources provided by institutes of higher education, particularly for a university of our size. Moreover, for the past five years or so, Elon’s administration has worked to build bridges among these staff members, faculty, other staff, and students by way of a presidentially appointed group, the Sexual Assault and Gender Issues Council (SAGIC), that meets twice each semester to provide feedback to both Ms. Clark and Ms. Bishopric Patterson on their work, and to advise the administration on the policies and procedures regarding sexual assault, harassment, etc. In fact, SAGIC has existed, in one form or another, for approximately ten years.
And then, of course, there are university wide positions, working groups and councils focused on creating a safer and more inclusive Elon including the Inclusive Community Council, the Provost Inclusive Community Team, the Director of Inclusive Community Well-Being and the Associate Provost for Inclusive Community, all of whom work to deepen Elon’s commitment to and understanding of diversity, and whose work against acts of bias and discrimination includes a focus on sexual violence. All of these initiatives and efforts put into practice an institutional opposition to sexual violence that President Lambert articulates clearly and forcefully in his speech to first year students and their families during Opening Convocation each fall.
We must admit to being a bit troubled by the fact that much of the information we have provided in this letter, information that seems to undermine the editorial’s claim that “without these student organizations, there would be no active educational initiative on campus that discusses sexual assault,” could be discovered by a simple Google search on Elon’s website. A couple of well-placed phone calls would have easily filled any gaps. Even more troubling than this lack of quite basic research, though, is the concern that misrepresenting university resources and efforts will unnecessarily deepen the isolation and suffering that so many survivors of sexual assault experience.
We have no doubt that the writers of this editorial are committed, as are we and as is Elon University as a whole, to working against the prevalence of sexual assault on college and university campuses. This is a large, complex, multifaceted problem that no institute of higher education in the US is free to ignore. We encourage the writers, and indeed all students at Elon, to support the administration’s many efforts in this direction and to engage productively with their own communities to recognize and then challenge all elements of rape culture. And if you need help in doing so, please reach out to Becca Bishopric Patterson, who, for example, could provide your student group with quick and effective bystander intervention training!
Sincerely,
Ann J. Cahill, professor of philosophy and chair of SAGIC
Rebecca Bishopric Patterson, Coordinator for Health Promotion
Jessica Clark, Coordinator for Violence Response
Leigh-Anne Royster, Director of Inclusive Community Well-Being
Laurin Kier, Director of Tutorial Services, Assistant Professor of Sociology, member of SAGIC
Melissa Jordan, Interim Director of the Multicultural Center, member of SAGIC
Karen Nunez, assistant professor of Accounting, member of SAGIC
Matthew Antonio Bosch, Director of Gender and LGBTQIA Center, member of SAGIC
Anna Von Wodtke, student, SPARKS peer educator, member of SAGIC