Photo courtesy of Connecticut College.
Students packed Hillel House on Nov. 11, in a sea of green at the Student Government Association (SGA) open forum relating to the Nov. 6 Title IX voyeurism case in Katherine Blunt House. Members of administration in attendance included Ariella “Ari” R. Rotramel, Interim Dean of Institutional Equity and Inclusion (DIEI); Rachel Stewart, Director of Sexual Violence Prevention & Advocacy (SVPA); Victor J. Arcelus, Dean of Students; Geoff Norbert, Assistant Dean of Student Engagement and New Student Programs; Sara Rothenberger, Assistant Dean for Residential Education and Living (REAL); Ebony Manning, Associate Dean for Equity and Compliance Programs and Title IX Coordinator; and Mary Savage, Director of Campus Safety. The forum ran from 7:15 PM-9:15 PM, as students shared frustrations with the College’s handling of the situations, offered suggestions for change, and asked questions regarding available information about the case and about the funding of the Title IX office and the office of SVPA.
The College Voice attended the forum and took notes on the questions posed along with their answers. We were also given access to information courtesy of SGA. Here is what we know.
What has been done so far by the College?
After the initial voyeurism incidents in 2018 and 2019, the College hired an architectural firm to see if they could make a ceiling to floor covering in bathrooms on campus without affecting the sprinkler system. While this was possible in buildings such as Larrabee, it was not possible in all buildings due to the possibility of mold growth. It is also not currently possible to do gut renovations of dorm bathrooms. Shower curtains were traded out for thicker ones that would be more opaque and less transparent. More hooks were added to shower stalls so one could reach their towel without being naked with the curtain pulled back. A large issue was the gaps in partitions between showers and the bathroom stalls and general bathroom space. Arcelus stated that in 139 bathrooms across campus the gaps were filled with rubber. However, it appears as though there are still bathroom gaps as commented on by multiple Freeman residents at the forum who claimed that the gaps were “large enough to stick a hand through.” After visiting Freeman, TCV can confirm that these gaps are still mostly present.
The College is currently exploring the option to make private bathrooms on campus. There are currently 70 lockable bathrooms on campus. However, there are a number of appliances per number of residents on each floor making bathrooms typically believed to be defined as “single-use,” considered “communal” as someone could be brushing their teeth in there at the same time another student showers. All 21 dorms have at least 1 bathroom that locks.
There are currently talks going on with SGA regarding the possibility of installing cameras in dorms. At many times Arcelus brought this up as his favored form of solution. Issues that arise when dealing with cameras involve the reality of student privacy, fear of such cameras being hacked, and general disapproval of increased surveillance in student spaces. In response to this, Arcelus claimed that the cameras would only be viewed when there was such an incident and that the footage would be overwritten every sixty days. In order to gain access, multiple people would be involved. Anything viewed on cameras that may be against other school rules will not be followed through whenever those cameras were accessed. There are currently cameras in the Winches and River Ridges that were installed back in the 2018-2019 school year after a multitude of burglary incidents.
The school doesn’t currently have a great deal of information regarding the perpetrator. The Title IX Office relies on the students sending in tips and reports, and the victim could not identify this specific perpetrator according to Dean Manning. The New London Police Department responded quickly, with a female officer, and has not given Conn information. When students suggested that Campus Safety may not be the best way to deal with scared students, Savage mentioned that two new positions were created last year in the Campus Safety office titled Student Support Specialists. These are social workers that answer calls in conjunction with Campus Safety. Student Support Specialists will respond separately and interact with the students whenever Campus Safety isn’t necessarily needed.
The College intends to remove the perpetrator from campus as soon as they can find that person or persons responsible. However, they share all information they receive with the New London Police. We don’t get information back from them on the ongoing investigations. By law Campus Safety is not allowed to share such information. “It is a hard pill to swallow but sometimes because of the severity of the problem we can’t share information even though we may want to,” stated Savage. If there is a Title IX incident with no name, the report goes to the state. If there is a name attached, they are followed up with by the Title IX office. There are a lot of ongoing investigations and Title IX is a deeply busy office.
What are students suggesting? How can we change campus culture?
Suggestions from students in how to prevent voyeurism incidents in the future ranged from better communication with students, increased funding for the Office of SVPA and the Title IX Office, further involving outside sources beyond Honor Council and the College, and, organizing timely events regarding SVPA during orientation at times where students are more likely to attend events. President of SGA Samirah Jaigirdar ‘22 invited students to email Vice President of Finance Rich Madonna about allocating campus funds to these offices. Any budget questions about allocating more money to SVPA should be brought up next week at the next SGA forum on Thursday, Nov. 18 at 7:15 in Hillel House.
When asked about what the College plans to do to prevent sexual violence on campus in the future, Administration said students should encourage friends to “not make jokes around rape, sexism, and racism. We are all able to commit sexual violence and we need to call that out.” Campus norms are built by the people on the campus. It cannot be just survivors leading the push. Manning added that the College totally accepts all information regarding red dot situations but must engage with the law.
When asked what was being done to stop the predators at the source, Stewart admitted that “there is not a whole lot of research that there is any rehab/education to actually prevent sexual violence (SV). Folks who are likely to commit SV need to be educated and their perceptions need to be pushed back. Systems of power and oppression are interconnected in ways that we cannot always dismantle. Intersectional programming is needed to help catch the small intrusion moments… Mandatory education can go very badly. We need to tell students why they need to care about these situations. Reaching out to the community is the only thing that works, it’s not taking responsibility off anyone.”
