Sexual assault, rape culture, and related topics have been frequently discussed on campus as a result of a successful Building Bridges conference and some negative backlash in response to it. This week, I looked into the process that one would go through if they have been sexually assaulted, raped, or have experienced some other form of sexual misconduct at Gustavus.

Dean of Students JoNes VanHecke is deeply involved in sexual misconduct cases and supporting survivors of sexual misconduct. She detailed the range of cases of sexual misconduct and the handling of them.

“Sexual misconduct can be inappropriate touching with a sexual nature, but also under that definition is rape. It’s a wide array. All of those things are wrong, but they will probably see different responses within our conduct system,” VanHecke said.

The amount of mandated reporters of sexual assault on our campus has increased drastically this year. Mandated reporters include faculty, staff, Gustie Greeters, Collegiate Fellows, Peer Assistants, and many more persons in leadership positions.

“The reason we have mandated reporters is that students should get all the information, all the resources, all the support that they desire and deserve to make good, educated decisions,” VanHecke said.

VanHecke discussed the reasoning behind having so many mandated reporters on campus.

“There are so many little pieces to expect every member of our community to be able to talk through with the victim, and yet, every single victim should have access to that information,” VanHecke said.

The increase in numbers of mandated reports at Gustavus has been part of a response to the recent changes in Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972.  Associate Provost and Dean of Arts and Humanities Paula O’Loughlin is involved with the Title IX implementation, particularly reaching faculty and staff.

“Title IX says that people should not be denied equal education on the basis of your gender, which means academic working environments need to be the same. If someone experiences sexual assault and there isn’t follow up, they’re not going to feel as comfortable in that learning environment. Sexual assault is a form of sex discrimination,” O’Loughlin said.

“At Gustavus you don’t have to carry all the weight by yourself. There are people here who will believe you and support you and help you. You won’t have to be alone in any of this.” —Caroline Pokrzywinski

In 2011, the Department of Education released a document entitled, “Dear Colleague Letter,” which clarified that sexual violence is considered sex discrimination. Since then, more questions have been raised and continue to be answered.

“It’s an evolving, dynamic process. We, as a college, are trying to stay up to speed. The training has changed over the year as we are responding to the new expectations,” O’Loughlin said.

The mandated reporters who are able to maintain a victim’s confidentiality are the members of the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), the Counseling Center, and the Chaplains. I began my investigation with these resources because they can help with decision-making for a survivor.

The members of SART have gone through 40 hours of training through the state of Minnesota and are trained advocates. SART Team Leader Patty Dawson has been a part of the group since its establishment seven years ago.

“We are there to support students who feel they have been a victim of sexual misconduct. We will listen to them, believe them, and provide them with resources on campus or off campus,” Dawson said.

6.89% of student responders had sexual contact forced upon them using physical force or threats of physical harm.

SART is the best option for a student who feels he or she has been a victim of sexual misconduct because no reporting will take place unless the student agrees to it.

“The best thing a student can do is work with SART. They can give them all kinds of information without the student being compelled to participate in any investigative or reporting processes. They get to maintain control, which is important for someone who has been violated in a sexual misconduct case,” VanHecke said.

SART advocates do more than offer information. They stay connected with students who decide to report, attend meetings, and act as a support system.

“If a student makes a report, then we can go through the whole system with them. We’re with them the whole time,” Dawson said.

One incredibly brave student has allowed me to share her story as a survivor of sexual assault in order to gain a survivor perspective on the systems in place at Gustavus. Junior English and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Double Major Caroline Pokrzywinski is a two time survivor of sexual assault. One event took place last year involving someone she knew well and the other took place much more recently involving a one-time date with an otherwise stranger.

Pokrzywinski is currently going through the reporting process at Mankato State University (MSU), where both of these assailants attend. She has just recently made the decision to report both of the assaults. Pokrzywinski explained her reasoning for pursuing action, despite the multitude of challenges that have arisen.

“As an advocate and a survivor, it’s important to do what I would tell people in my same situation to do. I’ve been afraid of reporting for a long time but I decided to go through with it,” Pokrzywinski said.

Although it was a difficult decision, Pokrzywinski knew that her assailants needed to be held accountable.

“The idea of either of my assaulters dating other girls and those girls not knowing or those girls getting raped because I didn’t say anything ate away at me,” Pokrzywinski said.

A large part of the difficulty in deciding to report is the response from people around the survivor. Many members of the community are extremely supportive of survivors, but there are still reasons that sexual assaults are extremely underreported.

“You get slut-shamed; you get victim-blamed. People don’t think that happens but it does. It’s massively frustrating to be going through this process and to experience what I’ve experienced and have people still say, ‘no, rape culture doesn’t exist’,” Pokrzywinski said.

Although Pokrzywinski has faced immense difficulty in the process, she has found support in many areas on campus.

“Gustavus has a really good system compared to a lot of schools. Our faculty are very supportive of survivors. SART advocates are wonderful people who care for you. I cannot speak highly enough of JoNes, because she genuinely cares, but it’s not a perfect system. After I was assaulted, I didn’t know what to do,” Pokrzywinski said.

SART is the first place that survivors like Pokrzywinski should go, but often they direct them to other beneficial resources.

“We’re not counselors. We’re here to listen and provide resources,” Dawson said.

The Counseling Center is an excellent resource for survivors in addition to SART. Director of the Counseling Center Lisa Rinehart advocated for the office as a powerful resource for survivors.

“We do not share information regarding counseling sessions unless a client asks us to do so in writing. This is often helpful as a person decides what he or she wants or doesn’t want to do regarding reporting the assault,” Rinehart said.

If a survivor chooses to report to the Dean of Students, there are still many options for that person on how to proceed.

“My responsibility is to make sure that any student who is a victim of misconduct receives resources, information, and support and to make sure they know what their options within the system are so they can make decisions that are within their best interest,” VanHecke said.

However, reporting to the Dean of Students does require some form of action to investigate misconduct reports.

“According to Title IX, the institution has to launch some kind of an investigation if we are made aware of a sexual assault,” VanHecke said.

If a student decides to proceed with a formal sexual misconduct investigation through the school, there are several steps that would take place within sixty days of the initial report. Two investigators would hear from the survivor, the alleged assailant, and any potential witnesses who could provide details about the event.

“Ultimately, the investigators, based on all the evidence, details, and facts, make a decision of whether or not there was a violation of sexual misconduct policy,” VanHecke said.

From this point, there are many possible outcomes. If all parties agree with the investigators’ findings, the assailant will be brought to a sanctioning board (if a violation is found) or the matter is dropped (if a violation is not found). If there is disagreement, the matter is brought to a three person hearing body. In these cases, the survivor can be as involved or not as involved as he or she wishes.

“There are cases where they would move forward with the hearing but the college would be the complainant in the case and the survivor would get to choose if they wanted to be a co-complainant, if they wanted to be a witness, or if they didn’t want to be involved at all,” VanHecke said.

The unfortunate reality of the system is that sometimes survivors do not receive justice in the way they hope. There are many factors that go into the investigation and outcomes in an already complex and difficult system.

29.8% of student responders had a friend or acquaintance tell them that they were a victim of an unwanted sexual experience.

“For a lot of students, if they’re focused on a specific outcome, it can be more difficult to achieve. Those are harder situations because other people — the investigators, the hearing board, the sanctioning board — get to have control over the outcome,” VanHecke said.

Campus Safety can also be involved in a few different ways. Director of Campus Safety Carol Brewer shed some light on the aspects in which they are involved.

“A timely warning is a federal law that requires me to provide ‘timely warning’ if there is a threat to the community as a whole. We would have to give a public warning. We need to work with that victim to make sure they are okay, but also fulfill our requirements for the law,” Brewer said.

“We are there to support students who feel they have been a victim of sexual misconduct. We will listen to them, believe them, and provide them with resources on campus or off campus.”—Patty Dawson

Campus Safety can also assist students with more civil aspects of a sexual misconduct case.

“If there’s a need for a harassment restraining order or order for protection I can assist in that process. If they have a class together, if they live in the same residence hall, the school makes adjustments to accommodate that,” Brewer said.

Situations involving sexual misconduct are extremely delicate and often survivors are at a loss for what to say.

“Believe them, don’t question them, don’t ask them what they were wearing, don’t ask them if they said no, just be there and point them in the right direction, which is SART,” Pokrzywinski said.

Classics and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Professor Yurie Hong is a member of the SART team. She offered advice to friends of survivors.

“Don’t feel the need to define terms. ‘Was that rape? Was that consent?’ Ultimately, what matters is that a person felt violated. It’s someone else’s job to figure out what gets called what,” Hong said.

Underreporting of rape is an unfortunate reality in the world in which we live. At Gustavus, there are many areas of support for survivors whether or not they choose to report.

“The men who raped me had to live with this for five, ten minutes, maybe a day if they felt bad about it. I have to live with this for the rest of my life. You can unburden yourself by reporting and going through the process so you don’t have to carry all of the weight all by yourself,” Pokrzywinski said.

Reporting assaults is not necessary, but highly recommended. It helps prevent future assaults and makes our campus a safer place. At the same time, for those who have not experienced an assault, it is important to reflect on the fact that the challenges for a survivor are on-going. After reporting, there are many steps, which may or may not lead to a penalty for an assailant. No matter the outcome, students need to be supportive of survivors and recognize the hardships that reporting entails.

As a committee member of Building Bridges, a friend of multiple survivors of sexual misconduct, and as a concerned member of the Gustavus community, I hope to provide students with as much information about the process of a sexual assault case as possible. For survivors, this may lead them to the right resources. For everyone else, this is a way we can further attempt to understand and empathize with the complicated process.

“At Gustavus you don’t have to carry all the weight by yourself. There are people here who will believe you and support you and help you. You won’t have to be alone in any of this,” Pokrzywinski said.

For more information regarding sexual assault, contact any member of the SART team or JoNes VanHecke. For further information regarding Title IX, contact Paula O’Loughlin.

*All statistics come from 2013-2014 Sexual Misconduct Campus Climate Survey

-Laura Isdahl