<p>It's disturbing that an institution with the resources of Amherst could bungle " doing the right thing", so thoroughly.</p>
<p>I hope this shines a light on very dark places that we would rather not see.</p>
<p>It is so hard to believe that this is still happening! What a brave young woman to come forward with her story now, I wonder how it would have been handled if she had reported it right away.</p>
<p>[An</a> Account of Sexual Assault at Amherst College | The Amherst Student](<a href=“http://amherststudent.amherst.edu/?q=article%2F2012%2F10%2F17%2Faccount-sexual-assault-amherst-college]An”>http://amherststudent.amherst.edu/?q=article%2F2012%2F10%2F17%2Faccount-sexual-assault-amherst-college)</p>
<p>I read the long article because I couldn’t stop. I wanted to get to the end to find out she was ok and Amherst did the right thing, but how could someone ever be ok after being raped. She was brave to come forward. It was a very well written article. I hope Amherst will change its policy and give more support to rape victims. I was very sad to find out she didn’t have parents or family to support her.</p>
<p>With another daughter heading off to college next year, I have to wonder - are there any colleges that do a good job handling sexual assault cases? It makes me angry and sad that this is what the administration response is to these situations, but are there schools that do things differently?</p>
<p>[College</a> crime reports | WWLP.com](<a href=“http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/local/hampden/college-crime-reports]College”>http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/local/hampden/college-crime-reports)</p>
<p>That report lists Amherst College as reporting 15 forcible sex offenses in 2011. That seems incredibly high for such a small school. Very sad article and sad statement about the administration at this school and other colleges that don’t take rape seriously.</p>
<p>She did not call the police. She did not even report anything to the college. I think the best thing we can do is empower women to call the police if they have been raped. There is process and procedures in the system. Personally, I would not “think” to tell my place of business or my college if I were raped. At best, hopefully most places or business or education would know to call the police and let them handle the situation, but I’m not that trusting. I don’t think it’s that businesses or places of education don’t take rape seriously, I think it’s that rape is a crime…and should be treated as such through the police and prosecutor’s office. I would immediately go to the emergency room and/or call the police. It’s a disturbing article and my heart goes out to her that she did not have the knowledge to report immediately.</p>
<p>Remarkable story . . . and the comments go on for pages. Clearly not an isolated incident, and clearly not isolated to Amherst.</p>
<p>I haven’t read anything this powerful on the subject except Alice Sebold’s book, “Lucky.”</p>
<p>One would hope that this would cause some soul-searching at Amherst and at other institutions, since this is hardly unique to them. Although I think that some of the people she describes come across as well-meaning but clueless, rather than malign, when the other side of the story is presented as clearly and powerfully as this, there is no longer an excuse for cluelessness. </p>
<p>Required reading for all college and high school administrators, IMHO.</p>
<p>“That report lists Amherst College as reporting 15 forcible sex offenses in 2011. That seems incredibly high for such a small school. Very sad article and sad statement about the administration at this school and other colleges that don’t take rape seriously…”</p>
<p>According to the College President, there were 41 women raped at Williams in that same period (that doesn’t count other forcible or non-forcible sex offenses and assaults). Four male students were expelled. And they are taking it very seriously. (But, if all the victims actually came forward, the college would be absolutely overwhelmed, and the police department couldn’t handle it.)</p>
<p>The most unsafe place for women on virtually any college campus is the campus itself. Far too many criminals enrolling.</p>
<p>The president of Amherst has just released a statement:
<a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/campuslife/letters_president/node/436469[/url]”>President Martin’s Statement on Sexual Assault | Amherst College Statements on Sexual Assault | Amherst College;
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<p>I’ve been very impressed with my own school’s recent overhaul of its sexual assault response policies and the resources it’s put in place to help survivors of sexual assault.</p>
<p>Reed went through a crisis similar to what is happening at Amherst a couple of years ago and the administration was accused of systematically discouraging sexual assault survivors from reporting rape to the police, of not doing enough to punish rapists and prevent them from committing more crimes, and of generally fostering an environment of secrecy and silence to protect its reputation. The student body was so outraged by these things that the administration responded by changing its policies.</p>
<p>We now have an assistant dean of sexual assault prevention and response, multiple types of counseling, health and advisory services, and a much more transparent and effective apparatus for dealing with these issues. And, in my opinion most notably, the college administration no longer tries to obstruct the reporting of sexual assault to the police or to isolate sexual assault survivors from the support network they have a right to in order to make them feel like they don’t have a choice in how to respond to the assault (which is exactly what happened to the Amherst student).</p>
<p>Here’s Reed’s sexual assault response webpage, which I think is pretty good:</p>
<p>[Sexual</a> Assault Prevention and Response at Reed](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/sexual_assault/index.html]Sexual”>Sexual Health, Advocacy, and Relationship Education - Reed College)</p>
<p>Even though I’m sure there are still a lot of problems with how Reed addresses sexual assault, stories like the one that’s just come out of Amherst make me really thankful for the ground we have gained.</p>
<p>All I can say is, “Wow.” I admire the young woman for finally leaving. It’s sad that she was treated as she was … by so many. Amherst’s administration needs to do some soul-searching.</p>
<p>It seems as if our daughters’ generation are no longer willing to go silently away the way girls used to. I’m so sad that this continues to happen to so many young women. I am so glad they are more and more willing to speak up and less and less willing to be shamed. The adults around these girls are beginning to be forced, by the young women themselves, to change their policies and behaviors. Soon, rape may even be considered the crime it really is, with the commensurately severe punishment it deserves. Good for her. I hope she begins to heal and returns to feeling her own power through speaking out.</p>
<p>What I want to know is how we managed to breed so many college-going violent criminals?</p>
<p>Yeah, probably because many of them are being raised by college educated violent criminals? No? I mean, the incidence of rape is not increasing. The incidence of reporting is increasing. Lately, I’ve noticed that when the young woman is rebuffed by the “rules” put in place to support the rights of rapists, they refuse to be silenced. this is new. This is interesting and different and I think, hope, it will actually begin to force some substantive and not just PR verbal changes on the campuses. In the meantime, make sure your daughters know to go to the police and not the administration. The police for a crime. The administration for a change of major or academic advising.</p>
<p>Sadly, no one really knows if the incidence of rape is increasing or decreasing because there is no reliable baseline, nor any consistent information on the percentage of rapes that are actually being reported. </p>
<p>As usual, there is more to the story:
[Amherst</a> Sweeps Sexual Assault Allegations Under the Rug](<a href=“Amherst Sweeps Sexual Assault Allegations Under the Rug”>Amherst Sweeps Sexual Assault Allegations Under the Rug)</p>
<p>Now, I remember lots of drunken sots in my day, and I’m sure there were rapes and sexual assaults. But I can’t remember anything like the tee-shirt you see in the above story, or of hockey teams nicknaming themselves “The Rapists” (Miami University), or…well you could make your own list. And, no, it isn’t a case of selective memory.</p>
<p>I have no reason to believe that crimes of this kind would be better dealt with by police. Certainly, in Williamstown, reporting by 41 women in one nine-month period that they had been raped (forget the the women - or men - who had been sexually assaulted but not raped) would bankrupt the local police department. More likely, the cases would be shunted to the back files.</p>
<p>True…</p>
<p>But, when I was in college, I knew several girls who were raped and were discrouraged and shamed by the administration from reporting. Maybe your college had less of them. Who knows?</p>
<p>^^That is why it is important to go to the ER and call the police. I don’t think i would have ever, at any point in my life, thought to go somewhere else if I would have been raped. Administrators can deal with lewd t-shirts, posters, etc., but rape is a crime.</p>
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<p>Possibly. But, you never know.</p>
<p>The issue of rape and sexual assault has been in the closet for a long time, now, even in light of (semi) equal rights. The more girls who speak out. The more young women who refuse to be silenced, the less this can continue to go on unchecked and unpunished.</p>
<p>In the meantime, as I have said before, I just cannot for the life of me figure out what these boys are taught about young women when they are growing up, or if they are taught anything useful at all.</p>
<p>“That is why it is important to go to the ER and call the police.”</p>
<p>Depends on one’s jurisdiction. I can’t remember the last time I heard of a local police department heavily pursuing a rape that occurred on a college campus - anywhere.</p>
<p>Williams expelled four rapists last year. (But I don’t know that any of them were seniors.) But 4% of all female students reported they’d been raped (not including forcible sexual assaults or sexual assaults that weren’t rape.) Clearly, there are an awful lot of rapists still on campus. I can’t imagine it is different at Amherst.</p>