Honor Code and Rape

Colleges and Universities A-Z Haverford College
1

<p>Any insight on the apparent contradiction between the emphasis on respect in Haverford's honor code and the astonishing rape statistics for the campus?
(Haverford's per capita rate for combined 2009-2011 data is third highest for its peer group, after only Amherst and more or less tied with Reed; double the per capita rate at Sawrthmore, for example.)</p>

<p>Also, does anyone know if the college has noticed and has done/is doing anything about it? (the latest government statistics are from 2011)?</p>

<p>[Rape statistics from Campus Security data at ope.ed.gov, category 'Sex offenses - forcible', Definition: Any sexual act directed against another person, forcibly and/or against that person's will; or not forcibly or against the person's will where the victim is incapable of giving consent]</p>

2

<p>Do you have any numbers or just rankings? This seems a little abstract…</p>

<p>When I was there, a guy peed out the window and they practically made a federal case out of it… there was a major campus trial, the full works… I swear, it was like the crime of the century…</p>

3

<p>“Do you have any numbers”</p>

<p>per the data, 18 such assaults over the 3 years (6/yr), amongst a student population of just under 1200</p>

4

<p>I’m actually surprised because Haverford is located in a very safe, up-scale area. Does it give details? Were they attacked on campus or in the city? Were they attacked by outsiders or fellow students?</p>

5

<p>Statistics show there were 18 reported cases of forcible sexual contact at Haverford in the three years 2009-2011. The statistics do not distinguish whether or not these all were incidents of unwilled sexual penetration–rapes–or other kinds of sexual assault. Neither do they relate who was assaulted nor who was the perpetrator (if known). The only further detail we can obtain is that 13 of the 18 occurred in on-campus student housing.</p>

<p>(See [OPE</a> Haverford Crime Statistics](<a href=“Campus Safety and Security”>Campus Safety and Security))</p>

<p>One could speculate that, if the number of sexual assaults is higher “per capita” than most, that it is the result of survivors being encouraged to report, reports being effectively pursued, and security personnel dutifully reporting all without feeling the need to fudge cases and data. All of this might, in turn, stem from the active observance of the Honor Code. Whether this is, in fact, the case, can be assessed most authoritatively by current and recent Haverford students. I do note the presence of a sexual assault survivors’ support group on campus, [Haverford</a> College: SOAR: Survivors of Assault and Rape](<a href=“http://www.haverford.edu/organizations/soar]Haverford”>http://www.haverford.edu/organizations/soar), and this petition, [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.change.org/petitions/interim-president-haverford-college-reform-rape-and-sexual-assault-policy-at-haverford]Petition”&gt;Petition · Reform Rape and Sexual Assault Policy at Haverford · Change.org]Petition</a> for Haverford College to Reform Rape and Sexual Assault Policy<a href=“note%20the%20comments,%20too”>/url</a>, which indicates that many think it is a problem that needs addressing regardless of whether or not it is really worse than on other campuses.</p>

6

<p>By way of context, University of Florida and Florida State University each also reported around 6 such assaults per year, but they have student populations of 40,000+.
I understand that some of the difference here is likely due to reporting standards, perhaps at a small LAC survivors feel more comfortable reporting and feel like there is more chance they will not be ignored. But by this measure, Haverford looks bad even compared to other small LACs… And I understand that someone has to be the worst in any ranking, but I had naively assumed that the kind of people Haverford’s honor code reputedly attracts would be somewhat <em>less</em> likely than the norm to perpetrate forcible sexual assaults.</p>

7

<p>^ Not just U of F, but according to the data on the College Navigator site, large public universities in general have rates generally about 1/10 of that of LAC’s. I doubt that the students at LAC’s are that different from public university students. I suspect that the difference arises primarily out of the differences in culture, with the culture at most LAC’s promoting a different interpretation from that at public universities of similar events.</p>

8

<p>the real issue is when will young men learn to behave appropriately, no matter where they are going to college!? (and I suppose I should add it can be the opposite…with different gender identity issues as factors…)</p>

9

<p>I have compiled sexual assault data from OPE for five years (2007-2011) for
– 4 year public and non-profit private bachelor’s granting schools
– In the U.S.
– With courses in philosophy or religious studies (in an attempt to get to those with liberal arts curriculum but thereby also scoping in divinity schools).</p>

<p>Out of these 987, I have summed forcible sexual assault incidents from the past five years on the main campus of each institution. For all but 10 of the institutions I have eliminated data from other campuses (for the vast majority of these other campuses there were no report incidents). </p>

<p>The 10 I included other campuses had three or more reported incidents on other campuses. I rolled these into the total even though in some cases the campuses appeared to be widely separated. (None of these 10 are in the list I am presenting.) I then used the 2007 total student enrollment figure (which in this database includes graduate students when present and total enrollment at all campuses) to derive an index with approximates “per student” count of reported forcible sexual assault incidents on campus over five years. </p>

<p>Here are the 60 institutions with the highest calculated index.</p>

<p>Institution------------Size----------Incidents------------Index
Warren Wilson College----946----------------59----------0.062367865
Brite Divinity School----268----------------15----------0.055970149
Randolph-Macon College–1176----------------42----------0.035714286
Amherst College---------1683----------------49----------0.029114676
Gallaudet University----1423----------------41----------0.028812368
Haverford College-------1169----------------25----------0.0213858
Reed College------------1492----------------30----------0.020107239
Marlboro College---------313-----------------6----------0.019169329
Swarthmore College------1491----------------28----------0.018779343
Colorado College--------2075----------------36----------0.017349398
Centenary College (LA)—938----------------16----------0.017057569
Knox College------------1371----------------23----------0.016776076
Hampshire College-------1431----------------23----------0.016072676
Cornell College---------1083----------------16----------0.014773777
Denison University------2242----------------33----------0.014719001
Trinity College --------2526----------------37----------0.014647664
Bryn Athyn College of the New Church—138—2----------0.014492754
Linfield College-McMinnville Campus–1693—24----------0.014176019
Wheaton College---------1657----------------23----------0.013880507
St Lawrence University–2319----------------32----------0.013799051
DePauw University-------2398----------------32----------0.013344454
Lawrence University-----1443----------------19----------0.013167013
Hanover College----------929----------------12----------0.012917115
Dartmouth College-------5849----------------74----------0.012651735
Ohio Wesleyan University-1986---------------25----------0.012588117
Bethany College----------815----------------10----------0.012269939
Bowdoin College---------1716----------------21----------0.012237762
Carleton College--------1994----------------24----------0.012036108
Virginia Wesleyan College–1433-------------17----------0.011863224
Hamilton College--------1842----------------21----------0.011400651
Dickinson College-------2381----------------27----------0.011339773
Connecticut College-----1869----------------21----------0.011235955
Coe College-------------1316----------------14----------0.010638298
Vassar College----------2451----------------26----------0.010607915
Beloit College----------1366----------------14----------0.010248902
Occidental College------1877----------------19----------0.010122536
Gettysburg College------2503----------------25----------0.009988014
Princeton University----7261----------------72----------0.00991599
Albion College----------1938----------------19----------0.009803922
Lynchburg College-------2490----------------24----------0.009638554
Macalester College------1920----------------18----------0.009375
Oberlin College---------2774----------------26----------0.009372747
Bethany College----------537-----------------5----------0.009310987
Defiance College---------973-----------------9----------0.009249743
Chowan University--------875-----------------8----------0.009142857
Grinnell College--------1654----------------15----------0.009068924
Claremont McKenna College–1135-------------10----------0.008810573
Whitman College---------1489----------------13----------0.008730692
Williams College--------2073----------------18----------0.008683068
Gustavus Adolphus College-2625--------------22----------0.008380952
Arkansas Baptist College-602-----------------5----------0.008305648
Wartburg College--------1810----------------15----------0.008287293
Middlebury College------2500----------------20----------0.008
SUNY at Purchase College-4251---------------34----------0.007998118
Saint Norbert College—2169----------------17----------0.007837713
Davidson College--------1674----------------13----------0.00776583
Allegheny College-------2193----------------17----------0.007751938
Willamette University—2720----------------21----------0.007720588
Lake Forest College-----1456----------------11----------0.007554945
Eckerd College----------2544----------------19----------0.007468553</p>

<p>Some additional data of interest:
–Bryn Mawr, Haverford’s sister school, is at 66th on this list and the highest-indexed women’s college. Mt. Holyoke and Smith are next at 83 and 102, respectively. (Can it be assumed that support for assault survivors to report incidents is especially high at these schools?)
–Hampden-Sydney, an all-male college, is at 77.
–The highest–indexed schools with over 10,000 students is Yale at 110 and Harvard at 150. The first large public on the list is the University of New Hampshire at 153 and the first very large public (over 25,000) is UC-Davis at 160 (includes multiple campuses in incident count).</p>

<p>Comments:
This is not a pretty picture for LAC’s and other small schools no matter where they are situated, urban, suburban or small town. Even if they are more intimate and supportive place, they are not relative havens from the threat of sexual assault. But I also am strongly inclined to believe that these data also reflect a very high degree of under-reporting (or, perhaps, under-recording) at larger schools rather than a cultural tendency towards sexual assaults at smaller schools.</p>

<p>Things to Remember About These Data:
These are reported incidents, not investigated nor prosecuted. Incidents occur on campus and can involve both students and non-students.</p>

10

<p>You also have to take into account that LAC’s are often a majority female population, whereas some of the other larger schools are not. </p>

<p>I was surprised by Princeton’s numbers as well because again, that’s a very up-scale safe area.</p>

11

<p>Maybe schools are using different criteria. Assault, by legal definition, does not have to involve physical contact.</p>

12

<p>I question the validity of a “ranking” system when it comes to this topic. The definition of rape and sexual assault differ from state to state and, more importantly, colleges aren’t the same when reporting crimes. In addition to the dynamics between large universities vs small LACs, there is also probably great variation between LACs as well. This Spring, students at Occidental, Swat, and Amherst filed federal complaints with the Department of Education because survivors on their campuses felt they were discouraged from reporting incidents of rape and sexual misconduct and felt they had no other alternative with their administrations. I don’t know where HC is on this spectrum. Rather than discussing “rank”, I think the conversation should be what the college is doing to prevent sexual assaults/rapes and what the college does afterwards to best help the survivor. Ranks may unintentionally punish those colleges with the greatest transparency…</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/education/swarthmore-and-occidental-colleges-are-accused-of-mishandling-sexual-assault-cases.html?_r=0[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/education/swarthmore-and-occidental-colleges-are-accused-of-mishandling-sexual-assault-cases.html?_r=0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>[Crime</a> | A Student’s Guide to Policies and Resources at Haverford College](<a href=“http://blogs.haverford.edu/students-guide/crime/]Crime”>http://blogs.haverford.edu/students-guide/crime/)</p>

<p>[Sexual</a> Misconduct (including sexual assault) | A Student’s Guide to Policies and Resources at Haverford College](<a href=“http://blogs.haverford.edu/students-guide/sexual-misconduct-including-sexual-assault/]Sexual”>http://blogs.haverford.edu/students-guide/sexual-misconduct-including-sexual-assault/)
<a href=“http://www.change.org/petitions/interim-president-haverford-college-reform-rape-and-sexual-assault-policy-at-Haverford[/url]”>http://www.change.org/petitions/interim-president-haverford-college-reform-rape-and-sexual-assault-policy-at-Haverford&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Finally, I don’t see a big “contradiction” with the Honor Code. To me, the Honor Code is simply the ideal that the college challenges its students to reach and no one familiar with the college that I know has the expectation that it prevents bad stuff from happening on campus, even by fellow students. There is an opportunity though for integrity to be demonstrated by how the administration, staff and students react to the problems they face and how individuals can take responsibility for their acts afterwards. In this regard, HC hasn’t disappointed this alum (yet).</p>

13

<p>This may be the first post to directly address the original thread issue, but I find this justification unsatisfactory, likely reporting differences notwithstanding. If “the Honor Code is simply the ideal that the college challenges its students to reach” then I would expect that (i) the students who willingly accept that challenge and who are provisionally identified by the college as being the ‘right stuff’ for it would be ‘better’ at attaining that ideal than ‘the average’, and (ii) exposure to this ideal and the experience of trying to meet this challenge would over the course of a student’s years at the college lead to ‘improved’ behavior, with more respect of fellow students.
Neither of these expectations is borne out by the figures; recall that Haverford’s statistics are not just indistinguishable from similar colleges, they are noticeably worse. The most natural conclusion would be that either the Honor Code is considered simply fluff by many students, or that something about the environment created by the Honor Code encourages those so inclined to think that sexual assault is OK, … or perhaps it actually induces some potential assaultees (survivors) to let down their guard [itself no justification for the acts] - which is the opposite of “no one familiar with the college that I know has the expectation that it prevents bad stuff from happening on campus”.</p>

14

<p>As a long-ago member of the Bi-Co community, I find it hard to believe that Hford students are substantially more likely to engage in sexual assault than at other schools. I suspect that the culture created through the Honor Code encourages a willingness to challenge conduct that may cross lines, subjective or objective. As I read the original post, the statistics related to forcible sexual acts – perhaps I am reading this too finely, but to me, that is broader than the criminal definition of rape. Without knowing more about how reports are categorized, it seems that one could include non-consensual touching within that definition – but to understand what those numbers mean, you would need to go much deeper into the report. The Honor Code creates a culture of accountability and self-critique, which could well lead to higher reporting of incidents which would not necessarily be reported on other campuses.</p>

15

<p>I agree with Midwestmom…</p>

16

<p>

When I was there, peeing outdoors was considered sexual assault… so the statistics could actually be a reflection of students taking the Honor Code very seriously.</p>

17

<p>

Hardly the “natural conclusion”. First of all the data I posted suggests that increased reports are endemic to many small schools, including LAC’s, whether or not they have honor codes. (A quick search suggests Amherst, Reed, and Randolph-Macon as well as Haverford have prominent honor codes or principles but Warren Wilson, Gallaudet, Marlboro, and Swarthmore do not). And Washington & Lee, another school with a prominent Honor System, is 318th on the list. A much longer story would have to be told if the theory that the honor code is the source of a sexual assault problem is to be given credence.</p>

<p>Second, in order to draw the conclusion that an increase in reported incidents reflects an increase in actual incidents one would have to hold that at all schools survivors have the same inclination and same level of encouragement to report assaults and that campus security will evaluate all such reports by the same standards and record them with equal accuracy. To explain the data we really have to decide what is more likely: that the climate for sexual assault is actually worse at Haverford and other schools on the list than at most schools or that the public exposure of sexual assault is higher than at most schools. I find the latter more believable but could be persuaded otherwise by the authoritative testimony of current and recent Haverford students and some plausible conjecture explaining how this could happen at a school which, in my limited experience, emphasizes harmonious community and self-integrity to a greater degree than most.</p>

18

<p>^ Another possibility is that in bubble environments, like that of Haverford and most LAC’s, students are exposed to a much lower level of insensitive and offensive behavior (which may involve unwanted touching) and so they become more sensitive to it when it does occur, as they do not develop a “thick skin” or even maintain the level of thickness they came in with. In the non-bubble environment, e.g. in public universities, students are offended or otherwise made to feel uncomfortable quite often, and they develop that thick skin, which involves a different level of sensitivity and leads to a different set of responses.</p>

19

<p>I would just add that there are all sorts of possibilities, and without having more details regarding the actual reports, we can just speculate.</p>

<p>I would further note that there was a spike in 2010 for some reason, and the numbers came back down in 2011.</p>

<p>I am interested in this as a father of a DS who is very interested in applying to Haverford this Fall.</p>

20

<p>TheCrookedOne- It seems to me in reading your posts that the origin of your concern is still that rank list and where HC falls on it when compared to other LACs. In addition to 1) “campus culture” that affects whether a survivor is more/less likely to report a rape or sexual assault her/himself and in addition to 2) the honest variation in definition/interpretation of these crimes between states but also by survivors and administration, there also is alleged 3) that some administrations under-report sexual assaults and rapes. According to what is being written in the press, that under-reporting isn’t a few cases/year but rather a number large enough to turn that rank list on its head (see link below). Like I wrote before, I don’t know definitively where HC falls on the spectrum between under-reporting to over-reporting. As demonstrated in the petition I linked, HC does have more work to do to improve education and awareness on campus but I haven’t read anything alleging a pattern of under-reporting like at some other LACs. I like to believe there are enough really brave students at HC like those at Swat (and elsewhere) to bring this issue up if there was a problem with the administration and I have no reason to believe that’s not the case. Given this and my belief that any rape or sexual assault (peeing outside a window doesn’t count) on a student is one too many, I think it’s more constructive to focus on what the administration can do to more proactively address this problem as well as continue to improve support for survivors afterwards. </p>

<p>[Op-Ed:</a> Raped and Betrayed | Daily Gazette](<a href=“daily.swarthmore.edu domain has changed”>daily.swarthmore.edu domain has changed)
“As many of you know, on April 18, Hope Brinn and I submitted a Clery Complaint to the Department of Education regarding Swarthmore’s violations of the Clery Act. From under-reporting and intimidating to under-publicizing crimes on campus, Swarthmore has failed to fulfill this act on many counts. We will soon be submitting our Title IX Complaint to the Office of Civil Rights. The complaint identifies specific cases in which members of the college’s administration have discriminated against, retaliated against, and furthered the trauma of students.”</p>

<p>“Is oppression and discrimination that bad here? Since Title IX was instituted, thirty-three years ago, in the United States, 20-25% of college aged women will be survivors of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault before earning their diplomas (U.S. Department of Justice, 2002). Despite under-reporting and intimidation, over 25 sexual assaults have occurred on campus this year, that’s two percent of our present student body.”</p>