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Sexual Assault Reform Movement (2009–2013)

Overview

Hamilton College’s engagement with sexual assault reform across 2009–2013 paralleled the national Title IX reform wave, building from early Womyn’s Center programming and data-gathering through institutional policy changes and a landmark public initiative. The Spectator documented a sustained pattern of alarming campus data alongside growing advocacy, culminating in the fall 2013 “Yes Means Yes” initiative and a lecture by Angie Epifano — whose 2012 Amherst account had gone viral — in the Hamilton Chapel.

Key Points

• Early data (2001–2003): The Spectator documented a sustained pattern of sexual assault on campus:
• A 2001 survey found 22 of 105 respondents reported rape or sexual assault
• A 2002 study found 21% of Hamilton women across all classes reported incidents qualifying as sexual assault under New York State law
• Rohypnol was confirmed on campus in April 2003
• Counseling Director Bob Kazin stated Hamilton “far exceeds national norms” for alcohol-related negative consequences including sexual assault
• Institutional context: The 2013 campus survey found 94% of students reporting that the campus atmosphere encouraged excessive drinking — directly linking alcohol culture to sexual assault risk; this figure persisted as a data point across multiple reform discussions
• Policy milestones (2009–2013): Early Womyn’s Center programming; adoption of a mandatory reporter policy; new sexual misconduct hearing procedures
• “Yes Means Yes” initiative (fall 2013): A campus affirmative consent initiative co-launched by Sr. Associate Dean Meredith Bonham and CDO Amit Taneja in fall 2013 — the most significant institutional policy initiative of the reform period
• Angie Epifano lecture (October 2013): Epifano — whose 2012 public account of sexual assault and institutional failure at Amherst College went viral and galvanized national attention to campus Title IX failures — lectured in the Hamilton Chapel in October 2013 about Title IX rights and institutional adjudication failures
• National reform context: The Hamilton reforms paralleled the broader national Title IX reform wave of 2012–2014, which included the White House’s “It’s On Us” campaign and renewed Department of Education enforcement
• Concurrent with other 2013 reforms: The “Yes Means Yes” initiative launched in the same fall semester as the Real Talk race dialogue controversy and the Hillary Clinton Sacerdote Great Names lecture, reflecting a period of intensive programming across multiple social issues

Title IX Reform Era (2010–2013)

• Fall 2010 brought a visible spike in reported sexual assaults and the first documented campus-wide mobilization around the issue. In November 2010, multiple reported sexual assaults in a single semester prompted a community meeting co-sponsored by Sigma Lambda Upsilon, Hamilton SAVES, and the Womyn’s Center, attended by Dean of Students Nancy Thompson, Director of Campus Safety Francis Manfredo, and approximately 50 students and staff. The meeting explained reporting and judicial processes, announced upcoming Hamilton SAVES events, and was followed by a Take Back the Night march attended by more than 100 people. Counseling Director Bob Kazin confirmed increased reports, and student Dean Thompson emphasized that any student found guilty of sexual assault by the Sexual Misconduct Board would be expelled. (The Spectator, November 11, 2010)

• The Sexual Assault and Violence Education and Support group (Hamilton SAVES) and the Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Board (HSMB) were the primary institutional vehicles for campus reform. In December 2010, Hamilton SAVES members — including Noelle Niznik (residential life co-chair of SAVES) and Michael Bethoney ‘11 — presented to Student Assembly, citing statistics that most assaults occurred in the first month of the year and predominantly to first-years, perpetrated by sober upperclassmen involved in athletics and Greek life. They noted there had been no official hearings about sexual assault at Hamilton in four years, and announced the founding of Students Against Sexual Assault (SASA), a mentorship and support organization. (The Spectator, December 2, 2010)

• A required extended orientation program for first-year men, featuring Keith Edwards of the group Men Ending Rape, launched in fall 2010 — and attracted national controversy. Dean of Students Nancy Thompson said the program had been in development since May 2010 and was a “moral and legal imperative.” Edwards’ session was titled “She Fears You” and addressed men’s role in campus rape culture. Conservative radio host Bill Nojay complained to The Spectator, and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) wrote President Stewart to oppose the mandatory requirement. The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression later named Hamilton a “Muzzle Award” winner for the program, calling it “forced indoctrination.” Thompson defended the program, citing both moral and legal obligation. (The Spectator, September 30, 2010; The Spectator, August 20, 2011)

• The consent question dominated campus debate in fall 2010 and spring 2011. A December 2010 coffee hour co-hosted by the Diversity and Social Justice Project and the CEC drew 30+ faculty and students to discuss alcohol and consent; Visiting Instructor Peggy Piesche and Professor Nancy Rabinowitz both emphasized that consent could be revoked at any time regardless of intoxication. A January 2011 Spectator editorial explicitly argued that “removing alcohol is not an instant solution” and called for multidimensional approaches. In April 2011, a first-person account published in The Spectator by Features Editor Emily T. Gerston ‘11 — documenting her own sexual assault that semester — directly named the problem: 6 reported rapes and sexual assaults on campus in 2010, noting that most survivors she knew did not report. (The Spectator, December 2, 2010; The Spectator, January 27, 2011; The Spectator, April 14, 2011)

• The Womyn’s Center moved into permanent space at the Days-Massolo Cultural Education Center (CEC) in January 2011, providing its first stable institutional home. Previously, the Womyn’s Center had been repeatedly forced to relocate; the new space in the former Ferry Building, alongside the Rainbow Alliance and the Chief Diversity Officer’s office, gave the organization “an established, permanent space on campus” and a basis to expand programming. Womyn’s Center president Caty Taborda ‘11 said the new home would allow the group to “recreate the safe space that has appealed to so many members in the past.” (The Spectator, January 20, 2011)

• Sexual Assault Awareness Month (April) programming grew significantly across 2011–2013, with a formal coalition structure and annual rituals. In April 2011, Hamilton SAVES, the Womyn’s Center, Students Against Sexual Assault, and the new Hamilton Survivor Network partnered to sponsor Sexual Assault Awareness Week — the Survivor Network, formed directly from fall 2010 campus discussions, provided confidential peer-based support. Events included a moment of silence at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday and public readings by student athletes. Co-founder of the Survivor Network, Alexandra Nasto ‘13, described the critical grey area: “consent can be given and then revoked, and that consent is not an all-or-nothing act.” (The Spectator, April 28, 2011)

• The fall 2011 Spectator debate over HSMB evidentiary standards documented the Title IX “Dear Colleague Letter” standard taking effect. A December 2011 Spectator opinion piece (“Hamilton Men Should Stand up for Their Rights”) by Jeremy Adelman ‘13 argued the HSMB’s “more likely than not” standard was unjust; responses by HSMB Chair Professor Stephen Orvis and alumna Ann Horwitz ‘06 laid out the legal framework. Orvis explicitly cited federal law — Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments — as requiring the “more likely than not” (preponderance of evidence) standard to retain federal funding. This exchange is the most direct documented reference in the 2010–2013 Spectator corpus to the April 2011 Dear Colleague Letter’s impact on campus adjudication. (The Spectator, December 1, 2011; The Spectator, December 8, 2011)

• The Womyn’s Center mounted a Gender and Sexual Violence Week in October 2011, in collaboration with the Mohawk Valley YWCA, centering Take Back the Night. The Womyn’s Center co-president Katherine Costa ‘12 articulated the group’s ongoing policy critique: victims had to “go through extreme emotional trials” and perpetrators were “often absolved of blame because there’s not a lot of proof.” She called for a dedicated campus staff member to report sexual assault and support victims — the earliest documented advocacy for a Title IX-dedicated coordinator position at Hamilton. The Womyn’s Center also brought 25 participants to the Utica Take Back the Night rally. (The Spectator, October 20, 2011)

• Meredith Harper Bonham — who would later co-launch the “Yes Means Yes” initiative — was identified in 2011 as Hamilton’s Title IX coordinator. The August 2011 orientation preview confirmed that Bonham, Senior Associate Dean of Students for Strategic Initiatives, served as the College’s Title IX coordinator, working with the HSMB to examine policies “to insure that we have the right process in place to address incidents of sexual assault.” This role, and her leadership on the Committee on the First-Year Experience (which incorporated sexual assault education), placed Bonham at the center of the institutional reform process that culminated in the fall 2013 “Yes Means Yes” initiative. (The Spectator, August 20, 2011; The Spectator, December 1, 2011)

• Campus Safety’s elevation to an enhanced professional status in 2012 was directly linked to Title IX, Clery Act, and Office of Civil Rights compliance demands. The September 2012 Spectator reported that Campus Safety Director Francis Manfredo pursued enhanced departmental status in part because the College needed to be “better equipped to handle the demands placed on them by the Office of Civil Rights, Title IX, Clery, timely [warning requirements] and the many other legal/legislative concerns that many people are not aware of.” This is the most direct Spectator documentation of federal Title IX reform enforcement pressure on Hamilton’s institutional structure. (The Spectator, September 20, 2012)

• Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2012 featured the T-shirt Clothesline Project — shirts made by assault survivors hung publicly in the KJ atrium. Hamilton SAVES Co-Chair Alexandra Nasto ‘13 explained: “We want to make a visual statement acknowledging that sexual assault happens in our community and signifying our united effort in taking a stand against it.” The HSMB also organized a Speaker Series on sexual violence in the LGBTQ community, race, and campus resources. The annual Athlete Reading on Martin’s Way, inaugurated in 2011 and carried forward in 2012 and 2013, had student athletes read anonymously submitted survivor accounts aloud. (The Spectator, April 26, 2012)

• The Amherst College Angie Epifano case — October 2012 — galvanized national attention and prompted direct Hamilton community discussion. Epifano, a member of the Amherst Class of 2014, published a first-person account of her sexual assault and the administration’s dismissive response in The Amherst Student; it went viral and generated 19 pages of online comments. The Hamilton Spectator reprinted coverage and student responses, noting that Amherst’s President Martin acknowledged the policy was “flawed.” Hamilton students explicitly discussed the case in the context of their own campus experience, with opinion writers drawing parallels to Hamilton’s adjudication culture. Amherst subsequently established a Special Oversight Committee on Sexual Misconduct. (The Spectator, October 25, 2012; The Spectator, February 7, 2013)

• Hamilton’s Womyn’s Center and SAVES participated in the regional Take Back the Night rally in Utica in October 2012. The rally, beginning at Utica City Hall and including a march through city streets, a speaking-out session, a candlelight vigil, the Silent Witness Project (for those killed by domestic violence), and the Clothesline Project, drew Hamilton students in solidarity with the broader Mohawk Valley community. SAVES participant Alexandra Nasto ‘13 said it “heightens our awareness of how serious the issue of domestic violence is in our surrounding area.” (The Spectator, October 18, 2012)

• SAVES became fully student-run by 2012–2013 and launched a Peer Advocate training program. SAVES co-chair Samantha Sokoloff ‘13 explained that the transition from staff-and-student to fully student-run was driven by a specific hearing case (the first in years), which revealed “many things about the reporting, investigation, and hearing process that we found unsatisfactory.” SAVES trained over 30 Peer Advocates, worked with Title IX coordinator Meredith Harper Bonham to inform students about the sexual misconduct policy, and attended a “ConsentFest” conference at Williams College. The 2013 Sexual Assault Awareness Week featured a Peer Advocate program, Clothesline Project, and athlete readings. (The Spectator, April 18, 2013)

Sources for Title IX Reform Era (2010–2013)

Open Questions

• What specific policies constituted the new sexual misconduct hearing procedures adopted during this period?
• How did the mandatory reporter policy change reporting patterns, and did the Spectator document any specific cases?
• What was the content of Epifano’s October 2013 Chapel lecture, and how did the campus respond?
• Did Hamilton face any formal Title IX complaints or investigations during this period?
• What happened to the “Yes Means Yes” initiative after its fall 2013 launch — was it sustained and institutionalized?

Sources

Related Topics

• Race, Diversity, and Inclusion
• Real Talk Controversy (2013)
• Student Activism and Social Movements
• Campus Life and Culture

Related Entities

• Hamilton College