by Donna Iadipaolo
“Dr. Schlissel was negligent in taking a leadership role on these issues, being proactive to combat a rape culture, as well as investigating student complaints, according to Carty. When some administrators did act, it was only due to efforts of student activism and public pressure.”
LEGITIMATE, PRESSING questions have arisen about current University of Michigan President Dr. Mark Schlissel’s involvement in dealing with sexual assault allegations on the campus of Brown University, while he was employed as Provost there, as well as his present efforts to end rape culture and sexual harassment at U-M.
This summer, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it was including Brown University in its investigation on infractions of Title IX. The University of Michigan is also currently being investigated for such violations by OCR. There are 76 colleges currently under investigation by OCR for the colleges’ handling of sex assault cases on campus.
And Dr. Schlissel now appears to be at the heart of federal investigations at two U.S. colleges.
Dr. Schlissel was employed as Provost at Brown University during the rape investigation of Brown student Lena Sclove, and Brown’s University’s “bungling” of its handling of the investigation. The case drew the scrutiny and criticism of national media, including USA Today, Huffington Post, The Daily Beast and New York Magazine.
In August 2013, Sclove announced to the media that she had been “strangled and raped” by Daniel Kopin after repeatedly saying “no” and never saying “yes.” Brown’s administration allegedly mishandled the case on many counts.
Sclove wrote about the incident in the Huffington Post and stated “through its neglect of the safety of students on this campus and the trauma I experienced, Brown compounded my sense of hopelessness and isolation.”
[private]For instance, Brown, while finding the Kopin guilty of “non-consensual sexual misconduct involving penetration, violent physical force, or injury,” allowed him back on campus only after one year.
“Lena Sclove’s press conference this past April really sparked a conversation on Brown’s campus about sexual assault and the flaws in the university’s systems,” according to Jeanette Sternberg Lamb, Class of 2015 at Brown, a Development Studies major. “Her bravery encouraged many other survivors to come forward with their own experiences, which led to increased awareness.”
Students organized to help the efforts of not only Sclove, but combat the general rape culture at Brown, and across campuses.
“Many of us came together to strategize how best to use that increased awareness to create change on campus and that group effort came to be known as Imagine Rape Zero,” added Sternberg Lamb, who is also a member of Imagine Rape Zero at Brown, sometimes referred to as “Rape Zero” or “IR0.”
Imagine Rape Zero received national media coverage of the group’s protests, organizing, and activism. The group has extremely grass-roots and student organizing components to it and works on a variety of facets.
“Imagine Rape Zero really is a coalition of a diverse groups of students, so I am hesitant to try to speak for the group,” added Sternberg Lamb. “My own personal view of Imagine Rape Zero is that we are a group of students who are working to apply pressure on Brown University to restructure the current sexual assault prevention and post-trauma support policies on campus to ensure survivor centered policies.”
Some question whether Dr. Schlissel himself—as an administrator at Brown—handled the campus sexual assault issue.
“As Provost of Brown University, Mark Schlissel was aware of Brown’s culture and climate surrounding sexual assault,” said Kevin Carty, Class of 2015, Sexual Assault Peer Educator at Brown, and member of Imagine Rape Zero. “And, as the academic executive of the University, he had the responsibility to direct professors and departments in regards to all sorts of student life issues, including (investigations into) sexual assault.”
Marisa Quinn, a spokesperson for Brown said: “I understand you have inquired about Mark Schlissel’s involvement in student disciplinary processes at Brown University. At Brown, the provost does not have a direct role in the student code of conduct process. During his time as Brown’s provost, Mark Schlissel did not play a direct role in student disciplinary matters involving the code of conduct.” When pressed about whether Schlissel oversaw the graduate student complaints about sexual assault and harassment Quinn said, “Dr. Schlissel did not decide any student disciplinary cases while at Brown.”
Provost Schlissel at Brown U
However, as the Provost, Dr. Schlissel was directly responsible for deciding the outcomes of rape complaints brought by Brown’s graduate students.
At an April 2014 community meeting about campus rape at which Dr. Schlissel and Brown president Paxon were present, the Brown Daily Herald reported that Schlissel was questioned about changing his role as the unilateral decision-maker in such cases. Dr. Schlissel responded to a graduate student: “I have no professional interest in being the unilateral decider for these issues.”
At Brown, University staff and faculty had been accused by students of their own perpetuation of a rape culture and violation of Title IX. Students reported being sexually harassed at Brown and the investigations and repercussions for this kind of behavior were meaningless. Thus, victims where left both isolated and the harassing culture continued.
“In our examination of the issue at Brown, we heard many stories of professors’ and department chairs’ misconduct,” added Carty. “A number of students experienced harassing professors, department chairs and advisors who refused to address issues of sexism, and a university judicial system (for students who report professors who perpetrate sexual assault or harassment) that was utterly useless.”
Dr. Schlissel was negligent in taking a leadership role on these issues, being proactive to combat a rape culture, as well as investigating student complaints, according to Carty. When some administrators did act, it was only due to efforts of student activism and public pressure.
“We know of no efforts by Provost Schlissel to address these grave issues, and he only expressed interest in studying and improving the judicial process and other areas after immense public pressure,” stated Carty.
“More specifically, in regards to the judicial system in which students report faculty who perpetrate abuse, Provost Schlissel’s office had unilateral control over the adjudication of case,” further specified Carty. “And, of the many students—undergraduate and graduate, but it’s overwhelmingly graduate students who go through this—whom we spoke to and who saw the system, none of them received anything close to an acceptable ruling. None of them felt that they received justice, and a number had to return to class or research with faculty who had perpetrated against them.”
In a July 6 article published by The Ann Arbor News, Dr. Schlissel said this about the campus rape epidemic: “Sexual assault on campus is evidence of a bigger societal issue, a problem that is now being put onto the laps of universities by the White House,” said Schlissel. “The president stands up and says ‘I can’t solve this problem in the whole country that I control, but now we’re going to focus on sexual assault on college campuses.’”
Studies show that perpetrators who return to the environment where they committed harassment or sexual assault are more likely to continue the illegal behavior.
Dr. Schlissel, to say the least, did not rise to the challenge to address these serious issues on campus, according to Carty.
“In short, Provost Schlissel had unilateral control over a broken system that allowed harassment and assault to continue against students,” argued Carty. “Not only was he blind to the obvious problems of this system, but he and his office issued case rulings that allowed obvious instances of abuse to continue unaddressed.”
Carty suggested students at the University of Michigan should be concerned about Schlissel’s past handling of such issues.
“Students (at the University of Michigan) should be concerned about President Schlissel, considering his track record at Brown,” said Carty. “That being said, Provost Schlissel did respond relatively favorably when we exerted as much public pressure on the University as we did. That’s heartening to us, as it should be to all student sexual assault prevention activists.”
Still, both Brown University and the University of Michigan could be found to have committed major Title IX violations, contributing to a rape culture on the respective campuses. Yet, rampant sexual assault is a nation issue.
Rape on Campus—a Nationwide Epidemic
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a college with 10,000 students could experience as many as 350 rapes per year. According to a National Institute of Justice report, over the course of a college career (which now lasts five years on average,) the percentage of completed or attempted rape victimization among higher education institutions is around 25 percent.
With one of four women in their college career being raped or having an attempted rape occur, national attention also needs to be brought to this sexual assault epidemic.
“Unfortunately, Brown University and the University of Michigan are not alone in being investigated by the OCR for failing to ensure that they respond appropriately and effectively to sexual violence,” according to Sternberg Lamb. “It seems like every day, yet another survivor must come forward to tell their story about how their university system failed to protect and support them after they had been assaulted. These failures further traumatize survivors and discourage other survivors from reporting.”
The federal investigation into Title IX violations at the University of Michigan centers around an alleged rape of a U-M undergraduate by U-M football player Brendan Gibbons. About three years passed before U-M “separated” Gibbons from campus. Some even go as far as to allege that the University of Michigan conspired to cover-up the allegations against the football player.
Many agree, at least when pressed and publicly, that sexual assault issues, more broadly, need to be addressed outside of college campuses as well.
“But I think it is dangerous that the conversations are focusing solely on sexual assault on college campuses,” added Sternberg Lamb. “Sexual violence and rape culture are nationwide problems, but not just on campuses. Title IX provides a recourse for college students to pursue some form of justice, but only addresses a small part of our country’s failure to respond appropriately to sexual violence.”
Brown’s Imagine Rape Zero was involved in developing a petition for improvements at Brown University. Many of these demands could be implemented at the University of Michigan and nation-wide, as well. Student activists at the University of Michigan have held protests in response to similar issues of sexual assault.
“Right now, (Brown) University does not take sexual assault seriously, I want them to make a real commitment to changing that,” said Sternberg Lamb. “Rape culture is a real and prevalent problem on this campus and throughout this country. The university needs to address it and this is going to require long-term and decisive action.”
The University of Michigan has integrated sexual assault awareness education into student orientation programs and its Student Life office has a website dedicated to sexual assault awareness and prevention. However, critics say U-M’s new president has not publicly backed a zero tolerance policy.
“This has to start with consent and prevention education: currently all students supposedly attend a session during Freshman Orientation,” added Sternberg Lamb. “Mandatory attendance needs to be enforced for all students (undergraduate, transfer, and graduate) and it should be made mandatory for each academic year.”
Specific training in relation to dealing with the victims of sexual assault is also critical throughout all colleges and universities. For instance, professors, faculty, and staff need to be aware of what constitutes illegal sexual harassment. Even more vital is training employees of colleges on how to deal with survivors of sexual assault.
“Secondly, the University needs to commit resources to ensuring that its staff, including faculty, campus police, and security workers are trained in how to appropriately and compassionately deal with survivors of sexual assault,” stated Sternberg Lamb. “This has to be a more than an hour training session that is then ignored; staff should be held accountable if they fail to act appropriately.”
Those who are well-versed in dealing with victims of sexual assault on campus say setting clear student expectations is also important. A clear, legal definition of sexual consent needs to be understood by all students. And a no-tolerance rape and sexual assault policy on campus needs to be enforced.
At Brown University, “this fall, the Student Code of Conduct relating to sexual assault will be under review,” noted Sternberg Lamb. “The university needs to adopt the definition of affirmative, inclusive consent. The hearings and sanctions processes need to be significantly amended; several of the points on our petition relay our expectations.”
Systematic problems that contribute to a rape culture also are in need of attention throughout campuses and other institutions. The entire notion, for instance, of constantly reaffirming a patriarchally authoritative culture needs to be challenged.
“Finally, the University needs to make a concerted effort to redress the ways in which the individuals of intersecting identities, including race, gender identity and expression, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, religious identity, and ability face specific challenges and are particularly disadvantaged by the current system,” said Sternberg Lamb.
Imagine Rape Zero
Many administrators at Brown have been in communication with Rape Zero, as a result of strategizing, protests, and outlined demands.
“Margaret Klawunn, the VP of Campus Life and Student Services, was most directly in contact with students involved in the Imagine Rape Zero campaign,” according to Justice Gaines, Class of 2016 at Brown, a Sociology major.
“Students within IR0 (Imagine Rape Zero) met with Vice President Klawunn, who was also Interim Dean of the College at the time, and Dean Yolanda Castillo-Appollonio, who works in the Office of Student Life handling cases and issues involving the Code of Student Conduct, to present the petition we had released at the end of April.”
The demands that Brown’s Rape Zero made were taken seriously to some degree by some administrators.
“In that meeting we discussed the demands of the petition as well as other policy changes and recommendations,” added Gaines. “President Paxson responded to the petition with a letter sent out early May. Many different processes involving reviewing, improving, and altering policies and practices related to sexual assault at Brown have been taking place this summer. Vice President Klawunn has been providing general updates through Brown’s website.”
President Schlissel has yet to formally meet with any student activist groups or organizations regarding the rape culture at the University of Michigan.
But the outcome of the investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights will undoubtable put even more pressure on Brown, University of Michigan, as well as other colleges across the country.
“The ongoing investigation of Brown University by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights will determine whether or not there have been Title IV violations,” according to Sternberg Lamb.
“Certainly the fact that the OCR has opened an investigation into the University implies that the OCR finds merit in the complaint.”
University administrators might, like Rape Zero, might speak to actual rape survivors—as well as student activists—in developing their investigations and developing a more rigorous anti-rape policy.
“From my own conversations with survivors of assault on campus and members of the administration, I would say that yes, there have been Title IX violations,” stated Sternberg Lamb. “In particular, I think that Brown University frequently fails to do all that it has the power to do to remedy the hostile environment caused by an incident of sexual assault.”
Students at the University of Michigan has similarly criticized U-M administrators for not doing everything that it can to combat a rape-culture.
“I also feel that Brown University does not do enough to ensure that students and staff are provided with all the appropriate information regarding the options a survivor has after an incident of sexual assault,” added Sternberg Lamb.
“Furthermore, the current Title IX complaint relates to Brown’s failure to redress the hostile environment for a particular student after she was sexually assaulted,” said Sternberg Lamb. “I think that the conversation needs to be broadened to include the fact that the prevalence of rape culture on this campus and throughout our communities can only be described as creating a hostile environment.”
Students at the University of Michigan, Brown University, and across the country have pushed for a hard-line and “zero-tolerance” policy when it comes to any kind of sexual harassment or “hazing,” let alone rape, Title IX violations, and sexual misconduct.
For instance, Ohio State University President Drake fired the marching band director after he said he discovered a sexual harassment “hazing” practices. Drake announced a “zero-tolerance” policy when it came to such practices.
Ohio State, along with the University of Michigan, Brown University and Michigan State University are among the colleges in the country currently under federal investigation as a result of Title IX complaints filed.
University of Michigan Communications Director Rick Fitzgerald did not respond to inquires made by The Ann Arbor Independent about Schlissel’s oversight of sexual assault policies at Brown or at present at the University of Michigan.[/private]