all is upon us once again. The leaves are turning. The air is cooling. The color of pink adorns the campus, reminding everyone that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. But let us not forget the purple ribbons that remind us that October is also Domestic Violence Awareness month.
Among the many issues raised during this month is the larger challenge of addressing sexual assaults, especially on college campuses. Just this past summer, there was story after story of college campuses being sued by students for their failure to appropriately and effectively address instances of sexual assault and rape. In many cases, these colleges were found guilty of violating the civil rights of the victims when they failed to punish claims of assault.
Sadly, we see signs that this may be a problem on our own campus. Last Friday, Sept. 27, on the campus news alert, the college announced that women on campus have been victim to “shoving, touching and fondling.” While the college was right to alert people to these incidents, the tone of the message perpetuates the idea that sexual assault is simply an act of misconduct that should be addressed internally as a violation of our “student code of conduct,” resulting in suspension or expulsion. In reality, sexual assault is a crime and anyone attacked on campus has every right to make a criminal complaint with the local police and request a criminal investigation.
As we saw in last Friday’s campus news, bystanders apparently have little role in such events other than to be witnesses. The fact that the third incident apparently occurred in the company of a group of male students is not only appalling, but it is also criminal. Those men are accessories and should be treated as such. They should be ashamed for allowing their friend to think that such behavior is acceptable.
The rate of sexual assaults on college campuses is shockingly high, and while most assaults are between intimate partners or are instances of date rape, assaults by strangers do happen. People who witness or have information on any of these crimes have a moral and legal responsibility to report them.
Sexual assault is a serious matter and not simply an “act of misconduct” equivalent to having too much beer in the fridge or changing margins to make your papers seem longer. To use the same language to describe these offences blurs the lines of moral and legal culpability. We fear that some of our recent efforts to crackdown on campus conflicts have further blurred these lines, confusing serious acts of harassment and intimidation with things that merely make us uncomfortable. This has caused some members of our community to overreact to slight insults and offenses, and others to underreact to serious and even criminal behavior.
Thus, we need strong rules about harassment, discrimination, threats, assault and intimidation. But this is not a mandate for “civility,” nor is it a reason to limit the free expression of ideas. There is a time and place for incivility. Every major social movement has been accused of being “uncivil,” and most started on college campuses. Appeals to niceties, politeness and civility have historically been used to silence minority voices and hence, while well-intentioned, can also be very dangerous.
So allow us to attempt to clarify the moral code of higher education. Students have a right to be loud, obnoxious and even uncivil. They have the right to disagree with one another, to challenge one another or to dislike one another. Students even have a right to say stupid and offensive things. Of course, the rest of us have a right (we’d argue, a responsibility) to point out when their thinking is clouded by unfair stereotypes, prejudices or false assumptions. That is part of the exchange of ideas, values, and perspectives that takes place when you bring people of diverse experiences together. If we shut down this exchange, no one really learns anything from one another. But while we support the right to free expression and even some incivility, let’s also be very clear about the limits on our actions. No one has the right to assault someone or threaten someone. No one has the right to scribble intimidating messages on someone’s whiteboard or to use fear to make a point. As a general rule, if you are not willing to put your name on something or state it publicly, it probably should not be said. For this reason, legal definitions of “harassment” treat anonymous contact as more hostile than personal contact. Clearly no one has a right to “shove” or “fondle” someone against their will. If you see someone doing these things, please do not act with civility. Raise hell.
