The College Fix

From an op-ed published Monday in the Swarthmore Daily Gazette by student Mia Ferguson, who has filed a complaint accusing college officials of under-reporting and mishandling sexual assault claims on campus.

I was sexually assaulted my first year at Swarthmore. With the support of friends, teammates, classmates, RAs, CAs, peer counselors, and staff members, I’ve come to a secure emotional place regarding the experience that allows me to identify as a “survivor”.

The past few days, however, have thrown me into trauma. My assault was not violent. My assailant hasn’t physically retaliated against me (then again, I am strong and so are my friends…). I haven’t been frequently triggered. So, what has horrified me this week? The administrators’ mishandling of my case.

Members of the administration have attempted to push me into darkness. They summon those who are closest to me, those whom I first told about my assault, into “emergency” meetings. When I am summoned to no such meetings, I feel powerless. When they try to get access to my emails, which I understand they are already reading, I feel powerless. When they summon my assailant to a meeting, without informing me, I am powerless. I am unsafe.

When I, however, have the support of members of the student body, members of the faculty, a national network of people fighting these issues, and, primarily, the law, I am not powerless. When I can speak out about my experiences, I am not powerless.

As many of you know, on April 18, Hope Brinn and I submitted a Clery Complaint to the Department of Education regarding Swarthmore’s violations of the Clery Act. From under-reporting and intimidating to under-publicizing crimes on campus, Swarthmore has failed to fulfill this act on many counts. We will soon be submitting our Title IX Complaint to the Office of Civil Rights. The complaint identifies specific cases in which members of the college’s administration have discriminated against, retaliated against, and furthered the trauma of students. If you are interested in gaining an understanding of what exact parts of the Clery Act and Title IX the college has violated, feel free to contact me.

I want this college to show me it doesn’t want to violate my rights; instead, those whom I thought would support me in making Swarthmore more safe, secure, and actively intolerant of sexual assault and rights violations seem to be attempting to damage me.

I can’t tell in whom I should place my trust. There are members of this administration who are in support of what I’m doing. They are inhibited from coming forward because of the system that mandates they stay quiet, or risk their employment. I wonder, however, would you risk your employment to be certain that your friend weren’t shoved against a wall, suffocated, and raped?

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