The White Ribbon Pledge you recently urged the campus to make states: “never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women,” yet we did not hear from you regarding the recent drugging of four law students who are women, likely by fellow law students. While we remain hopeful that you will make your commitment to ending sexual and gender-based violence more tangible, we wish to remind you: actions speak louder than words.

Your recent email’s revisionist history about sexual assault awareness and prevention erases the fact that the original “pioneering” task force on sexual violence at SU resulted in the creation of the Advocacy Center (then the R.A.P.E. Center). It’s unsurprising that you erased this from the historical record, since one of the first things your administration did was close the Advocacy Center, secretly, without warning, explanation or community consultation, leaving survivors without crucial services for months.

We have not forgotten that to get a response from you it took us marching to your office to present a petition with over 8,000 signatures and 800 comments. We have not forgotten that the Workgroup on Sexual Violence Prevention, Education, and Advocacy came about because of student organizing, after the center had been closed. We have not forgotten that the work of that workgroup was left to overworked, unpaid students and staff. We have not forgotten that despite giving public, verbal commitments, you did not attend any of the three listening sessions your administration initiated. We have not forgotten that administrators lied point-blank about whether certain services were available for sexual assault survivors. We have not forgotten that only in the context of an 18-day sit-in in the administration building did the SU community receive an (qualified) apology about closing the Advocacy Center.

While we believe that your heart is in the right place, we need to see a far more salient show of commitment that you are prepared to work collaboratively with the SU community to truly be at the “forefront of combating sexual and relationship violence issues.”

We call on you to make it clear how you are committed to ending sexual assault on campus, and we insist that future steps include diverse student-input and oversight, including the voices of survivors, students with disabilities, trans and genderqueer students, students of color and/or GLTBQI students. Prevention, and supporting those who have been victimized, is a matter of life and death.

Signed,
Rebecca Glaser, MFA Creative Writing ‘15
Yanira Rodríguez, PhD Student, Composition and Cultural Rhetoric
Alexis Rinck, political science and sociology, ’17
Mali Golomb-Leavitt, president of Active Minds, Psychology ’15
Henry Nelson, Geography and Citizenship and Civic Engagement, ’18
Derek Ford, PhD Candidate, Cultural Foundations of Education
Madeleine Slade, BFA Illustration ’16
Chen Chen, MFA Creative Writing ’15
Laura Jaffee, PhD Student, Cultural Foundations of Education
Simone Richmond, MFA Creative Writing ‘15
Ben Kuebrich, PhD Candidate, Composition and Cultural Rhetoric
Mary Rose Go, Program Assistant, Democratizing Knowledge