rape at evergreen

The Evergreen State College was quick to protect its own administrative interests in its response to the recent campus sexual assault campus। The VP of Student Affairs, Director of Health and Counseling, Coordinator of Residential Life, Chief of Police, formed a panel and addressed the student body, but the response was misinformed and basic, at best. Campus administration is looking at better cell phone coverage and landlines in every dorm; these things make sense for the safety of the student body, as do increased emergency call posts, better lighting and the other recommendations being considering.

Nearly ninety percent of college women who are raped know their assailants। Monique Vallot, Coordinator of Residential Life, encourages the student body to "lock your doors and windows" and, "avoid walking alone at night." Chief of Police Ed Sorger told students they, "shouldn't feel like a wimp," when requesting a police escort. These admonishments fail to recognize the underlying conditions that support sexual assault. I am by no means discouraging people from creating their own safety using these suggestions, but I would like to dispel the myth that these sorts of things will prevent sexual violence. Safety precautions such as those recommended by the Evergreen administration will only prevent a small percent (10) of all sexual assaults.

We must abandon the myth that rape is only a stranger jumping out of the bushes or attacking a person and taking them by force। These are the sexual assaults that draw media, but there remains the other ninety percent of sexual assaults, in which the assailant was a classmate, friend, boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, or other acquaintance. Additionally, women ages 16 -24 experience rape at rates four times higher than the rate for all women in general and college women are more at risk for rape and other forms of sexual assault than women who are the same age but not in college. It seems the majority of the Evergreen campus holds the belief that this doesn't happen at Evergreen and that this man who brutally violated a woman in our community must be an “outsider.” By perpetuating this myth and others this community is supporting the sexual violence that is happening on campus.

Ending sexual violence on campus and in the community means being willing to be honest about the reality of the situation and be willing to take responsibility for confronting sexual violence। Mr. Constantino, citing the statistic that we have not had a forcible rape on campus since 2002; Ms. Vallot, encouraging the student body to lock their doors; and Chief Sorger, telling folks to not feel wimpy (language which reinforces sexism and patriarchy), is not the accountability the student body should ask of the administration.

And the student body is not exempt from these attitudes; while on campus I’ve heard countless accounts about how this attacker must not be from Evergreen and is probably not part the Evergreen communit। We cannot keep this at arm’s length. We must be willing to feel the incredible discomfort that goes a long with looking at the fact that we live in a rape culture. The arrogance of Evergreen is astounding; the administration and the student body believe that we are far more progressive than national statistics, and I would like to challenge this belief. Of college women who are raped, 42% tell no one about their assault, and in one survey nearly one third of college men said they were likely to have sex with an unwilling partner if they thought they could get away with it (Warsaw). We live in a culture that remains silent about the epidemic rates of rape that happen, one in three women and one in six men are survivors of sexual assault. The people and communities that our society marginalizes experience these rates even higher.

Until we stand and declare that violence is unacceptable and work to stop it in every form of racism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, ageism, nationalism, war-mongering, and ableism in which it exists, until we believe our own research which shows that in nearly every case the perpetrator is known by their victim, and sexual assault happens here in our dorms and on our campus, we will not end sexual assault. We need to educate ourselves so that we have the ability to advocate for our fellow community members and not minimize, deny, and blame sexual assault on external factors. Finally, we must recognize that we can keep ourselves safe but that this will not be only by locking our doors and requesting police escorts, but also by confronting sexism and misogyny and working to end the patriarchal structures upon which this culture is built.