Last Tuesday, Sept. 17, Brandeis hosted "Massachusetts Steps Up: Key Sexual and Domestic Violence Issues for College Administrators" in the Hassenfeld Conference Center. The program was aimed at educating administrators from across the state about sexual violence issues and policy on college campuses.

The event was organized by the Feminist Sexual Ethics Project at Brandeis, which is directed by Prof. Bernadette Brooten (NEJS), and sponsored by the Governor's Council to Address Sexual and Domestic Violence Higher Education Working Group and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The same event was also held at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst the following day. It focused on "how to translate policy into practice, and practice into policy," as Peggy Barrett, director of prevention and innovation at the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, said during the event.

The event called for Massachusetts college administrators to create clear-cut policies, as well as for ways to educate students on them. Michelle Bowdler '82, senior director of health and wellness at Tufts University, said that "it is fitting we are here today at Brandeis because [sexual and domestic violence are] the social justice issue of our time."

Barrett cited administrators' moral and legal responsibilities to enact change on campuses, saying, "Our campuses are unsafe. They are unsafe for many of our students, and we need to take this on as our responsibility .... Administrators can do a lot to change what is happening on our campuses. We need to stop excusing sexual aggression, stop excusing ourselves for not knowing what to do; we need to take action here. We need to hold students accountable for their behavior, and we need to figure out how to do that."

The event highlighted issues from prevention to support, and featured panels of those experienced in this area. Beth Devonshire, director of student conduct at Bridgewater State University, outlined investigation techniques, as well as a clearly defined misconduct policy, that would best allow a board to make decisions regarding misconduct.

"I encourage a student-friendly policy that encourages reporting," said Devonshire. Though she said that instances of assault occur regardless of policy, she said that making what is covered in a school's policy clear will improve instances of reporting. This can include granting amnesty to witnesses or creating a system in which students do not judge these types of cases, according to Devonshire.

In addition to focusing on how to make the best policy, the event also focused on prevention, particularly in changing the attitudes present on campuses.

Christopher Gilbert, a prevention specialist in the Office of Sexual Assault and Prevention at Harvard University and organizer of the student group Harvard Men Against Rape, said getting men involved was one way to change culture on campus. He said that it is key to approach "gender violence as a men's issue, not to view men on your campus as hostile offenders, because 95 percent are not."

"Be explicit that they're not the problem, but that the guys who are the problem use their silence or their apathy to perpetrate," said Gilbert. "We need to change 'I'm not doing anything wrong, that's how I'm going to stop rape on my campus,' to 'what am I going to do from here?'"

As part of a Women's and Gender Studies course titled "When Violence Hits Home: Internship in Domestic Violence," students Samantha Daniels '16 and Evelyn Milford '16 assisted at the event as part of their internships within the Department of Public Health.

Milford said in an interview with the Justice that the event attracted many people from the area, not just Brandeis administration. "It's focused on a lot of outside people, like from the state department, crisis centers and other universities," she said. Milford also noted that there were more men at the event than she expected to see.

Daniels said in an interview with the Justice that she hopes in light of the event, "the responsibility to educate about and prevent sexual assault falls less on students, like [Students Talking About Relationships] ... and more on administration."
She said she also hopes for the creation of a men's involvement group and more resources for survivors on campus.
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