6 I February 20, 2015
The Guilfordian
opinion
WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM/OPINION
Sexual assault victims have
to fight to find their voices
BY BEATRIZ
CALDAS
Staff Wrfter
WE MUST LEARN TO LISTEN AND
STOP DISCREDITING VICTIMS
Imagine you’re going through your worst nightmare.
All you want is to scream so someone will hear you, or
run as fest as you can so you’ll be far away from it, but
you can’t. It’s a relief to wake up and realize that you’re
in your own bed, at home and safe,
isn’t it?
Unfortunately, to some people,
their beds are actually the source of
their nightmares.
Emma Sulkowicz, a Columbia
University senior, came fr>rward last
semester and admitted she had been
sexually assaulted. As shocking as it
may be, the school didn’t believe a
word she said and, therefore, didn’t
expel or suspend her rapist. So, she
found a way to overcome her fears.
“For my senior thesis. I’ll be
doing a piece called ‘Carry that
Weight’ where I will be carrying this dorm room mattress
with me everywhere I go for as long as I attend the same
school as my rapist,” said Sulkowicz in an YouTube video
on the Columbia Daily Spector channel.
A reporter from The Daily Beast, Cathy Young,
contacted Sulkowicz to write an article about what
happened. However, it became clear to Sulkowicz that
Young, as many other reporters had, thought her a
deceiver.
One of the reasons why they thought of her that way
is because she was friends with her rapist and had had sex
with him before.
“We know from the data that we have, that 90 percent
of the sexual assaults occurring on college campuses are *
by friends, by intimate partners, by hoolmp partners, by
people the survivors knew and trusted,” said sophomore.
Community Aids Awareness Project Member and consent
educator and intern for the sexual violence prevention
coordinator Molly Anne Marcotte.
The fact that sexual assault on college campuses is
still ongoing isn’t a surprise to anyone. But, it might be
shocking to know that a lot of people refuse to come
forward thanks to the massive criticism they hear from
social and mass media.
“I’ve heard people speak, and I’ve heard people who
voiced their opinion about it, and it is pretty scary the
thought that they go through, like ‘Should I report them?
Should I not?”’ said senior Joshua Williams.
The problem relies on the image of the perfect victim.
“The concept of the ‘perfect victim’ is very interesting,”
said first-year and Vice-President of Sexual Assault
Awareness Support Advocacy Eliza Stevenson. “People
have this image of the survivor as a white, straight girl
who’s a virgin and the perpetrator as someone like a man
with a mask in a dark alley.
“Of course that scenario has happened as well, but
incest assaults, assaults on black women and in the
LGBTQ^ community are some of the most unreported
rapes.”
Another reason why a lot of survivors have been
criticized is because they wait a long time to report a
rape.
“It is not uncommon for survivors to wait days or
even years before telling others about their experience,”
said Wellness Education Coordinator and Community
Director Kristie Wyatt in an email interview. “Trauma
(such as sexual assault and other forms of gender-based
violence) affects each survivor differently, and there is no
‘right’ way to respond.”
There must be comprehension and compassion for
victims of sexual assault or rape.
“A sexual assault becomes such a big part of a survivor’s
daily life and it’s a long journey to process it,” said junior
the President of SAASA Alexandra Barbour in an email
interview. “It’s not something that can be rushed, so it’s
unfortunate that survivors are criticized for trj^g to heal
on'their own timeline.”
We all, as human beings and as a society, must stop
judging those who also have to carry a “mattress” around
and help them by sharing the weight. No one should feel
helpless and alone while facing their own nightmares.
“So, when someone comes to you, and wants to share
something with you, I think that we need to sit down and
shut our mouths,” said Marcotte
In other words: less questions, more listening.
Black History
Month 2015
Contact mrc@guilford.edu to register for the All Black Everything Symposium
kWEDiNESDAVi
The Who Is
Black?
Panel Discussion
Power, Colorism &
Identity
6 p.m.-8 p.m.
^ Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Auditorium
ii
M
All Black
Everything
Symposium
Featuring: Sudie Nallo,
professor of social work at the
University of South Carolina
9 o.m.-3 p.m.
km
SiATUlRC^
4 Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Auditorium
Brothers and Sisters
in Blackness
Caribbean Dance Party
Time To Be Announced
Community Center
Our City Tour: Civil Rights &
Mural Tour of Greensboro
Only 75 seats available
Contact mrc@guilford.edu to sign up
Sponsors: Multicultural Education Department, African American Suoies, Office of Student Leadership & Engagement, Bonner Center for Community Learning,
Brothers & Sisters in Blackness, CCE-SGA, Student Senate, Center for Principled Problem Solving, Justice & Poucy Studies, Faculty Development
==-/.£ TTf/? lil EDITOR =
In response to the
shooting of three
American Muslims
Though we may not yet know with certainty the killer’s motives in taking
the lives of three young Americans, practicing Muslims in their prime, we
do know the crime was not motivated by “an ongoing neighbor dispute
over parking.” This initial statement released by Chapel HiU police is an
insult to any thinking person. To kill another human being, much less three
human beings, is a radical act. Multiple factors are certain to be at play when
someone spontaneously or with premeditation commits such heinous acts
— mental state, social conditioning, deep-seated beliefs — lines of reasoning
which justify the act to the killer. But, the fact is, these killings will resonate
as a hateful act regardless of whether or not they are formally recognized as
a “hate crime.” The reason for this is the level of vitriol and hatred directed
against Muslims in this country at this time. The hateful murderous acts that
are being committed in the name of Islam by ISIS in the Middle East give
us non-Muslim U.S.-Americans a feeling of fdse righteousness. We conflate
religion, region and culture. We refuse to learn the differences between these;
we block complexity in order to fabricate a monolithic other bearing the
face of evil. Our media teaches us to think badly, if we are thinking at all.
Unsurprisingly, we reflect back what we see yet remain blind to our own
distorted image.
I am moved by images and stories I am hearing of people of various
religions, including Jewish and Christian, who are showing and expressing
their solidarity with Muslim communities in Chapel Hill. This reaching out
to comfort the grieving is significant. But I also want us to think about how
we treat each other when not in the midst of local tragedy, when we are
talking about difficult political issues, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
I was deeply disappointed that I was not able to hear the Salaita talk in the
Frank building. That is, not able to hear a Palestinian-Jordanian-American
speaking in a building on Guilford campus donated by a Jewish-American
family. If we can’t share a space to talk to one another, then we unwittingly
replicate the barriers that make it impossible for people of Israel/Palestine to
live together in the holy land. I was disappointed to read Rabbi Gutman’s
false analogy between Salaita and the KKK in a local paper. In trying to
make the other sound radically evil, our own speech “radicalizes” to shut
thinking down.
I am a person of Jewish heritage who spends a significant time at Guilford
College. The difficult discussions that have taken place on this campus
have been meaningful to me. My models have been Max Carter and retired
professor Jonathan Mahno, who recently led a group of students through
Palestine and Israel, as well as Professor Drya Abdo, who, through her teaching
and organization of events, makes dialogue of all kinds possible. We need to
make our campus safe from violence and harassment for everyone. However,
let’s be clear, no campus worth its salt as an intellectual institution should
or can be safe. In learning we confront fears and prejudice. In opening up to
the other we experience pain and possibihty.
Audrey Bedowitz, community activist
LEUERS EDITOR
The tree remains a
part of our logo
In 1897, Mark Twain wrote ‘The report of my death was an exaggeration.”
Twain wrote this in response to pubhc confusion between a cousin’s illness
and his own demise. I thought about that when I read the opinion piece
about the entrance sign and College logo in the The Guilfordian on Feb. 6.
The piece, written by staff writer Lesly Vasquez, suggested that the College
dropped the tree from its logo altogether because it does not appear on
the recently updated entrance sign. In fact, the tree remains an important
element in the expanded logo system that was launched in mid-2013.
With the new logo system we have options for communicating the
Guilford name and identity. The marks include a signature (Guilford
College) as well as an emblem (GuUford College and tree) that has versions
with and without the seven core values.
The emblem, including the tree, is displayed on the website, social media
pages, major publications, stationery and business cards — making highly
visible impressions far beyond the corner of Friendly and New Garden. Also,
the banners along the entrance road and Founders walk feature the emblem.
The signature was chosen for the entrance sign because it clearly
communicates the name of the college to people in transit and is best suited
for the horizontal format of the sign. It is typical for colleges and universities
to display their signature on entrance signs.
I am heartened by the enthusiasm for the tree and respect and understand
the opinions about the change in the sign. Moreover, I would like all
interested parties to know the tree is alive and well in our hearts, minds and
in the new logo system.
Ty Buckner, Associate Vice President Communications O'Marketing