Last semester, the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Intern position was created after an impassioned Wespeak (“Wesleyan Community Demands Staff Position Dedicated to Sexual Violence,” May 4, 2010 — VOL. CXLVI, NO. 45) written by Liz Krushnic ’10, Arielle Tolman ’10, Sarah Abbott ’10, Camara Awkward-Rich ’11 and Monica Vitti ’12, and signed by hundreds of students, alumni, faculty, staff and parents, brought the issue of sexual assault on campus to the forefront of campus dialogue. This fall, Eliza Gordon ’11 became the University’s second SART intern. She’s already working hard to ensure that the victims of sexual assault safe, confidential resource, and make sure people are aware of the SART intern’s role.
“It is completely taboo in society [to discuss sexual assault] because it’s uncomfortable for people,” Gordon said. “Especially here where a lot of people hook up and a lot of people drink, there are blurry lines and that makes it even harder to talk about.”
According to Gordon, there is a lack of awareness on campus about sexual assault, but the lack of awareness is not particular to the University. It is a problem everywhere. Gordon’s job is primarily to be a liaison between the administration and students who wish to report sexual assault. The SART intern position was pioneered last year by Krushnic, who also helped to organize the student group Students for Consent and Communication (SFCC). The SFCC works closely with the SART intern to help carry out the intern’s ideas and plans for sexual assault resources on campus.
“It’s important to have a student available to talk to another student because it’s a very sensitive subject,” Gordon said.
As the SART intern, Gordon is not required to report incidences of sexual assault. This position of Non-Mandatory Reporters is limited only to Gordon and the Office of Behavioral Health Services (OBHS). Mandatory Reporters, such as Residential Life Staff, are people who are obligated to report to the school any incidences of alleged sexual assault that are brought to their attention.
Gordon will also work with accused offenders to make sure they understand the judicial process.
“If someone is an alleged perpetrator and is going to come up in front of the panel, they can still come to me and talk to me about the process because I will be the student who is most prepared to talk to somebody about that,” she said.
Gordon became involved with issues concerning sexual assault as a freshman, when she took a class called Difficult Dialogs. Following a mandatory 25 page research paper on an issue that manifested itself on campus, Gordon was asked to sit on a committee that rewrote the sexual misconduct policy in the code of non-academic conduct. Since then, Gordon has been involved with many different groups that stemmed from the committee, including Take Back the Night.
Awkward-Rich, a member of the SFCC, also has ideas for improving the resources on campus, and will work with Gordon to implement them.
“Something that I think is important but that maybe isn’t necessarily on the forefront of the student group’s agenda right now is the attempt to hire a [paid staff] person to oversee sexual assault issues,” Awkward-Rich said.
For now, Gordon is working hard to ensure that the student body knows her position exists.
Assistant Director of Student Life and Student Conduct Scott Backer is also working with Gordon to make sure that a student reporting an incident knows how to access all of the resources available within the University community.
“I am confident that Eliza will be able to work with the faculty and staff who have been trained as SART team members,” Backer wrote in an e-mail to the Argus. “One of the biggest issues is a better understanding of consent and how it relates to each individuals involvement in a particular sexual interaction.”
According to Gordon, the most crucial component to her activism is to bring the topic of sexual assault into the campus dialog.
“The issue with consent is that a lot of times when it’s not given it is in silence, it isn’t somebody fighting and saying ‘No, no, no,’” Gordon said. “Not saying yes is also not giving consent. So when nobody’s talking about it there’s a lot more that’s going to happen. I think it’s [the reason for a lack of dialog on campus], more than people just don’t want to think about it.”
Gordon can be contacted at ejordon@wesleyan.edu. Her office hours are Mondays 10a.m.-12 p.m. and Wednesdays 2 p.m.-6 p.m. They will be held in Room 208 on the second floor of the Davison Health Center. Her phone number is 3592 and her blog is sexualviolence.blogs.wesleyan.edu. She is available for personal appointments if a student cannot make her office hours.