Thanks to a Tulanian, who left a comment on our earlier article, I just heard about some things that have been going on at Tulane.

In October, a male student was allegedly sexually assaulted by a member of the campus police force. Although the officer has apparently been fired, no information was released to the student body. So we have a potential Clery Act violation there – when a serious crime occurs on campus, students are supposed to be alerted about the crime so they can take extra precautions.

In November, we get some better news – Tulane is working to publicize the resources available to sexual assault survivors on campus,

This problem [lack of awareness] was noted by organizations on campus and was addressed in the spring semester when Vice President of Student Affairs Cynthia Cherrey created a task force to work to standardize sexual assault resourses and education campus wide.

“There has been more funding starting last semester,” REACH [Rape Emergency, Awareness and Coping Hotline] Vice President Lauren Ruth said. “It has helped us to get the message out.”

Then in April, the Hullabaloo (which is an amazing name for a school paper, btw) published an article recounting one reporter’s frustration and fury with the campus police and administration’s complete lack of interest in an anti-gay attack on him.

A week later, they followed up with an article about Anna Minkinow (she has chosen to be identified), who is protesting Tulane’s decision to slap the wrist of the man who a disciplinary hearing found guilty of sexual misconduct for raping her. Her protest, joined by 10 to 20 of her classmates at any given time, sounds amazing. They bound and gagged themselves and stood next to signs protesting the silencing of sexual assault survivors by Tulane’s administration.

“I think the biggest issue we’re trying to address with our protest is that women are encouraged to speak up,” [Bates] said. “But what happens when a woman speaks up and the punishment is so lax as to be ridiculous?”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, part of the problem is a ridiculously umbrella term like sexual misconduct. The sanctions should be different for a lewd comment vs. a rape, and hiding everything under that blanket is disingenuous at best. But the problems here clearly go beyond just definitions.

The panel deliberated again and returned with sanctions. They explained that the order of no communication and the prohibition for him to enter residence halls would remain in effect, while he would also have to attend counseling at the ERC.

“Besides the fact that it’s a slap in the face,” Minkinow said, “I’m not even eligible for on-campus counseling myself, after withdrawing for the year.”

Apparently, after a meeting with Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Cynthia Cherrey (who does, from previous articles, seem to be doing some work to make Tulane safer), Minkinow will now be eligible for counseling, which is great, but hardly erases the larger problem – why is someone who was found guilty of sexual assault (in an act physically violent enough to inflict “blunt force trauma” according to the nurse who examined the survivor) would be allowed to remain on campus, endangering other students.

There is some good news, and also some not yet adequate news, resulting from the protest by Minkinow and her friends.

After countering the decision with the protest, Minkinow decided to meet with Cherrey, as she seemed like the next logical person to talk to in student affairs.

“We want them to be accountable for their decisions and to take responsibility for their response,” Minkinow said.

She reported that the meeting with Cherrey went very well, and that Cherrey invited Bailey to sit in on it as well.

“I’m getting a lot of my student privileges back, and she and Bailey decided they would add a distance restriction to my no contact order,” Minkinow said. “She was really supportive and apologized like nine times.”

Minkinow said that Cherrey planned on removing the student panel member, as complaints had been levied against him before.

She also expressed pleasure about Bailey’s proposed changes to the code of student conduct.

“They’re working on making a lot of active changes,” Minkinow said.

At this point, the student code of conduct does not talk about sexual misconduct at all.

“The new code clearly states all the procedural things that we kind of knew we need to be doing,” Bailey said. “The new code states all those procedural things, plus makes the statement that if a student is found responsible, suspension and expulsion are automatically considered.”

There is still no minimum sentence for violent crimes, however, in the new student code. The only crimes with minimum sentences are alcohol violation, drug violations and pulling a fire alarm. Also, the new student code lowers the burden of proof from “beyond a reasonable doubt” to “more likely than not.” Thus, convictions are easier, but violent crimes like rape still don’t have minimum punishments.

“It seems that the administration’s way of dealing with things, especially sexual assault, is shuffling it under the table,” said Samantha Schorr, president of the Rape Emergency, Awareness and Crisis Hotline. “Whether it’s a TUPD officer raping a student or a teacher being raped at her house, they just don’t talk about it. Though I wasn’t surprised, I was appalled at the way [Minkinow] was treated.”

The Hullabaloo is ending the year with a call for more openness and communication from the Tulane administration, and that sounds like a good place to start. I hope next years students will carry on the fight to get a better sexual assault policy, more crime prevention, a more responsive police department, and a more open and responsive administration.