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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHarvard Students Protest Sexual Assault Policy At Commencement (PHOTOS)
Graduating students at Harvard University donned red tape on their caps and gowns during commencement exercises Thursday in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a show of protest against the school's sexual assault policies.
In what was the latest in student activism around the issue, students were encouraged to place red duct tape on the tops of mortar boards during commencement by Our Harvard Can Do Better, an undergraduate student group advocating for better sexual violence policies.
OurHarvard @OurHarvard
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Sea of red in Tercentenary theater! #ourharvard14
10:20 AM - 29 May 2014
The red tape represents a show of solidarity with survivors of sexual violence and with graduates who did the same during their commencement at Columbia and Brown universities. It was originally used by Columbia students in 1999 to protest the "red tape" bureaucracy survivors faced reporting assaults.
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Our Harvard was instrumental in filing a federal complaint that led to the U.S. Department of Education opening an investigation into the prestigious university. The graduation demonstration also carried the endorsement of Harvard Students Demand Respect, a graduate student coalition working on the same issue, and the student groups The Diversity Report, the "I, Too, Am Harvard" campaign and Divest Harvard.
Read More:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/29/harvard-students-sexual-assault_n_5411614.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000020&ir=Education
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)Big League universities bet on the fact that their graduates will make big bucks and give back. I tell my alma mater to shove it regularly for employing war criminals. It's all about the $$ for them.
mythology
(9,527 posts)We need to put more resources into helping victims of sexual violence. I hope this helps.
Vattel
(9,289 posts)One person talks about rapists walking across the stage at the commencement, but no background info is given. The article doesn't even mention the specific policies that are being protested.
Did you read any of the links in the article?
Harvard's Handling Of Sexual Assault Reports Lambasted In Federal Complaint
Sexual assault survivors have accused Harvard College of providing conflicting and incorrect information, denying victims protections from their alleged assailants, and blaming victims in comments by staff, according to a federal complaint against the university's undergraduate school.
The complaint was filed Friday with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights by Emily Fox-Penner and one other lead complainant, who asked to remain anonymous. The complaint includes testimonials from 10 survivors who also declined to share their names for fear of retaliation by the university. The complaint also includes analysis from interviews with victims and allies conducted over several months by student activists in the Our Harvard Can Do Better group.
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When one survivor, a woman of color, attempted to report her assault, the complaint says, a college official responded, "It's in your culture that men are gropey."
Punishments imposed by the administration also proved to be a problem for some student victims.
One sexual assault survivor succeeded in obtaining a no-contact order against her assailant, only to have him take a job as building manager of the house where both students lived. The position gave him access to all of the residents' information as well as keys to their rooms. In the event that the survivor ever got locked out, she would need to call the building manager -- her assailant -- to get in. When the survivor raised this concern with the university, according to the complaint, a resident dean allegedly told her it wouldn't be a problem, and that no-contact orders were not an obstacle "when contact is legitimately needed."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/03/harvard-sexual-assault-complaint_n_5080708.html
There is plenty there for you to read.