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UVM allegedly blind to growing incidence of sexual assault
By Ted Cohen
A University of Vermont junior who was reportedly a victim of a campus sexual assault is back in the headlines as the school defends its efforts to respond to such incidents.
The student newspaper, the Cynic, recently featured junior Syd Partin sitting on the steps of the school’s Howe Library with her sign – “UVM Stop Hiding Rape.”
Partin refers to herself as a rape survivor, having just returned to the school after a two-year self-imposed hiatus.
Cynic reporter Eliza Barker’s piece on Partin was published in advance of today’s rape forum at the campus student center.
“Stand With Survivors,” sponsored by the Student Government Association, is scheduled for 5 to 6 p.m. today (October 12) featuring a discussion panel on campus sexual assault.
Partin told Barker it took UVM administrators two years to respond to her rape report, a delay she finds unacceptable.
Erica Caloiero, vice provost for student affairs, was quoted by the paper claiming the school is trying to be more responsive to addressing the issue of campus rape.
UVM has also launched a search for a sexual-violence-prevention coordinator.
The college’s administration has been under harsh criticism for its mishandling of sexual-misconduct cases since the spring, according to Barker.
Caloiero said the school is trying to address the student body’s demands for action, the Cynic reported last month.
“Every one of the pieces that we have been tasked with doing is well underway,” Caloiero said. “We are either meeting or attempting to exceed what has been put forward.”
The UVM rape history has been festering since students five years ago walked out of class by the hundreds, holding signs that read “UVM Blames Survivors” and “UVM Hides Assault.”
The protests were triggered by UVM then-junior Athena Hendrick’s Instagram post in which she said she received little support from the university after she was raped at school.
Partin said her experience was similar. “I never heard from them at all,” she told Vermont Public four years ago, referring to UVM officials.
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I could never understand why sexual assault is treated differently on a college campus than in a public park, a grocery store, a movie theater or a private dwelling. Granted, colleges are full of hormone-raging youngsters who are often living away from the home of their upbringing for the first time, but that’s no excuse. It’s a serious crime, wherever it occurs and like any serious crime the jurisdiction is handled by local or state law enforcement and prosecutors. If an assault happens in the Hannaford parking lot, you dont take it up with the produce manager, you call the police. I dont expect a retail store to have to establish their own code of conduct for it’s patrons, incorporated into a handbook that you pick up when you enter the store. The code of conduct for everywhere and everyone in Vermont is the Vermont Statutes Annotated. Maybe UVM can keep the tuition lower by not hiring a new “sexual-violence-prevention coordinator”? The person who first took that position at UVM was simply not someone who could be taken seriously. That role should appropriately be embraced by the office of the Chittenden County State’s Attorney through a track record of credible and thorough prosecutions.