Editors note: this article was updated on May 5 to reflect developments since last Friday's interruption. Please see the concluding section to read about these developments.
“Your silence is...
Title IX is the primary federal policy that shapes how college campuses respond to cases of sexual misconduct, including rape. However, it is up to individual colleges to adopt sexual misconduct policies and investigation processes that comply with Title IX.
The familiar pink paper forms from years past, found in residence hall bathrooms, offices and other campus buildings, were removed at the start of this year. They have been replaced with small information sheets detailing the process of reporting sexual assault with the new online forms, part of Advocate, Whitman’s new data gathering system.
According to the Statement of Rights included in the Student Handbook, all students have “the right to redress grievances"—but it wasn’t until this year that they were given an official means to do so. The college has published online this year an interim grievance policy, which gives students, staff and faculty the ability to formally lodge a complaint against another member of the Whitman community.
The Whitman administration made significant changes in its procedures for handling sexual assault over the summer, with an emphasis on improved communication with the Walla Walla YWCA and police department. These changes were made in response to student complaints about Whitman's handling of sexual assault on campus.
From 2005 to 2010, there have been a total of 43 incidents of sexual assault reported on the Whitman College campus, according to Whitman's Clery crime statistics. Of these, 31 were incidents of forcible rape. It is likely that far more rapes have actually occurred over that period, because many go unreported.
Some of these cases have made their way through Whitman's formal hearing process, and some have resulted in the college punishing the offender. Yet in the time that Detective Miguel Sanchez has been investigating rape and domestic violence cases for the Walla Walla Police Department, there hasn't been a single rape case from Whitman where criminal charges were filed.
