The dark truth is that even on our small campus, which fosters a friendly and familiar community of undergraduates, sexual assault still happens. Three years ago, Darcie Folsom was hired for just that reason. The College was given a grant from the Department of Justice as part of the Violence Against Women Act, and the administration used that money to fund Folsom’s Think S.A.F.E. Project, trying to lead the campus toward a climate free of sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking. The result has been a campus-wide revolution of awareness and action against sexual assault. Now that the Department of Justice funding has come to an end, the College has decided to continue its commitment to Folsom and her aims by replacing the government funding with their own.
Folsom’s original title on campus was Coordinator of Sexual Violence Education and Advocacy. Since the change in funding, “Coordinator” has been upgraded to “Director” and “Education” has been replaced by “Prevention” because, as Folsom said, “we can educate all we want, but if we’re not preventing, then what’s the point?”
If you’re part of the class of 2014, then your first semester at Conn was Folsom’s first as well. As a senior myself, I can say that her presentation is one of the few things I can remember from the whirlwind of workshops and awkwardness known as Freshman Orientation. She was energetic and funny, but also blunt and honest — willing to present the facts about college sexual assault unflinchingly. And those facts can make you flinch.
Sexual assault, according to the Department of Justice, is defined as “any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient.” Under this parameter, shocking statistics come to light. Sexual assault is the most underreported crime in the United States, and in a study conducted by the Bureau of Justice, almost 50 percent of college women who are survivors of sexual assault did not consider their situation to be defined as sexual assault. Another study showed that over just a seven-month period on one campus, there were 36 cases of sexual assault per every 1,000 female students. And then there is the statistic after which the national program is named: one in four women will be a victim of sexual assault during her academic career.
CC Curtis arrived on campus in 2005, and she said the change in awareness at Conn has been massive. “Conversations about these topics used to be happening behind closed doors. Now we have the President’s office actively supporting [our sexual asault awareness programs]. It’s like night and day.”
Curtis is now the Director of Student Wellness and Alcohol/Drug Education, but was once in charge of promoting sexual assault awareness as well. In 2009 she organized a task force of students, faculty and staff to examine the campus culture surrounding sexual assault, and found there to be a gap in programming and services on campus. She applied for the grant from the Department of Justice, and Darcie Folsom became a staff member soon after.
“It’s taken time,” Curtis said, “but I think we’ve created a safer space for people to start talking about these issues.”
Dean of Student Life, Sarah Cardwell, shared similar opinions when explaining why her office worked hard to keep Folsom and the Think S.A.F.E. program funded. “I know when I came [to Conn] six years ago, students were struggling with how to talk about sexual violence on campus, and often articulated that our system of support was confusing for them. I don’t think we are in that place anymore, and this is the significance of Darcie’s work,” Dean Cardwell said. Both these assertions ring true when cataloguing the progress which has taken place on campus since Folsom’s arrival.
1 in 4 is an all-male group on campus which aims to specifically educate men about sexual assault. “Sexual assault is a problem that affects everyone,” 1 in 4 President Blake Reilly ’14 said. “A lot of guys view sexual assault as just a women’s issue, but by having an all-male group, we’re calling on men to recognize this problem and incite change as well.”
Folsom became the staff advisor for 1 in 4 after arriving on campus, and their presence has never been stronger. “When I started going to [1 in 4] meetings as a freshman, there were five guys. At our first meeting this semester there were about 25,” said Jackson Murphy ’14, one of Folsom’s student interns and a senior member of 1 in 4. Their presentations at Freshman Orientation and their events on campus, such as Walk a Mile in Her Shoes (where upwards of forty male students take a lap around campus in bright red high heels) now make them one of the most visible groups at Conn.
Green Dot is a program which Folsom brought to campus in 2010. Having received training from the national organization, she now leads six-hour workshops in which she teaches students how to recognize instances of sexual assault, interpersonal violence and stalking, and how to appropriately intervene. There are currently over 360 “Green Dot Grads” on campus, and with another 50 signed up for the workshop this fall, we’re nearing a campus where one-fourth of the student body is specifically trained to prevent sexual assault.
SafetyNet is one of the more recent institutions Folsom has established. Her funding allows her to hire three student interns per year, but having received over a dozen compelling applications, she wanted to create something productive out of these motivated students rather than just rejecting them. She organized them into SafteyNet, a now 25 member group which helps organize various events on campus related to sexual assault awareness and prevention. “More than anything they act as a resource and a reference for their peers,” Folsom said.
Alia Roth ’14 is a senior member of SafetyNet and former intern of Folsom’s, who has been impressed with her work since she arrived on campus. “I’ve been at colleges where people don’t even know where to go for these issues,” Roth said. “Darcie came onto campus with a booming force and made us talk about them. She’s given me the tools handle these problems with victims and within myself, both on and off campus. It’s empowering.”
Although there has been all this meaningful progress on campus, the administration understands that continuing to fund this project is important because there is always more to be done. “While we have made significant changes in the past several years, we also know this work is ongoing and ever-changing and we need to continue to pay attention sexual violence on campus,” said Dean Cardwell.
Folsom obviously recognizes the importance of what the Think S.A.F.E. Project is doing at Connecticut College, but it’s also something bigger for her. “The changes that have occurred on campus are inspiring to me on a large scale. That we can actually see tangible differences within this microcosm gives me hope for our greater society.”
