The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 11/6/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Angela Evancie The recent hiring of Sue Parsons Ritter accompanied the restructuring of the College's sexual assault and harrassment policy [Click to enlarge]

The creation of a Sexual Assault Oversight Committee (SAOC) was announced by President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz in an e-mail to the College community on Oct. 28. Recommended by last year's Task Force on the Status of Women, the Committee will provide oversight on all aspects of sexual assault, including education, prevention, policy and communication. In addition to the announcement of the SAOC, a change to the College's Anti-Harassment policy was announced to include the role of a newly-appointed Human Relations Officer.

Last year's Task Force on the Status of Women called for a "coherent, caring and consistent" policy for handling sexual assault on campus. The SAOC will not be involved in the judiciary process of handling sexual assault cases, but aims to focus on prevention.

"By the time a situation comes to the judicial process, students have already been profoundly hurt, and while a judicial hearing may be able to provide a small measure of justice, it cannot erase the damage that has already occurred," said Associate Dean of the College Karen Guttentag, who is spearheading the SAOC's efforts. "We'd really like to expand our community conversation about prevention, including healthy intimacy, encouraging peers to intervene in unsafe situations and creating a culture where open communication between partners about sexual preferences and boundaries is the norm."

Whereas the SAOC will primarily deal with ways to prevent sexual assault, the changes to the Anti-Harassment policy are designed to expedite the investigation after any type of harassment occurs. Susan Ritter, Associate Director of Alumni Relations, was appointed as the new Human Relations Officer. Her position replaces the Human Relations Grievance Board, which was responsible for investigating harassment cases. Now, fact finders will investigate cases and issue Ritter reports under a certain time deadline. Ritter said time was the main concern in implementing the new policy.

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