Last Thursday, President Maxwell sent a campuswide memorandum to clarify his statement from Nov. 16, which left many students and faculty confused and irritated.
On Monday, Maxwell issued a statement in response to a question he had received regarding the alcohol culture on college campuses. It detailed the abuse of alcohol and excessive binge drinking in the community.
The statement appeared to be his response to the two indents of sexual assault from the weekend of Nov. 14. However, last week’s faculty senate meeting revealed that that was not the intention. Faculty said the statement could have been misinterpreted, given the way it was presented in “The Des Moines Register” and other media outlets.
However, several students and faculty members said they were frustrated that the statement did not mention sexual assault. “It might not have been what he meant to do, but what he did was tell students that these girls were to blame, and any victim is to blame if she’s been consuming alcohol,” junior Jennifer Henry said at the meeting. “And the point we want to make is that it doesn’t matter what she was doing before.”
Henry is the co-president of Students for Women’s Issues, which has launched a poster campaign on campus to spread the message that “Rape is never OK.”
President Maxwell immediately began drafting a statement at the meeting to clarify his response, Henry said. A memorandum was sent to students on Thursday, and a letter to the editor was published Friday in “The Des Moines Register.”
Provost Michael Renner said the administration is developing a community response involving one or more workgroups as quickly as it can.
“I think we’re handling it effectively, but I think we can do it more effectively, which will become visible in the next few days,” he said. “The community needs to work together to appropriately respond to this.”
Vibs Petersen, chair of the study of culture and society department, was one of the faculty members who stayed behind to help President Maxwell draft Thursday’s statement.
“Whether Drake is doing enough, obviously we’re not doing enough,” she said. “If we have one rape, our best isn’t good enough.”
She said Drake should implement more programs and workshops, and teachers should talk about it in class. Petersen also said there should be one person hired to deal specifically with sexual harassment issues.
The most immediate action Drake is taking to deal with the sexual assault situations is engaging students and faculty in dialogue.
Renner sent an e-mail to faculty last Wednesday night encouraging them to engage in meaningful conversations about the events of the last few weeks.
Nancy Reincke, director of women’s studies, discussed it with her students last week.
“I just taught my FYS, and I spoke with them about this issue,” she said. “I had them write about it and share their ideas, and their immediate response was to blame the victim.”
She said one of her students alluded to a “rape culture,” saying that her own behavior was one of the only things she can control to ward off sexual assault.
“That’s where I think the top-down message needs to come,” Reincke said. “Yes, we can do something about this problem. Yes, we have the power to do it. We also have the knowledge — it’s out there.”
The administration is open to suggestions from the entire Drake community on how to address concerns over safety and alcohol consumption.
“We need as many good ideas as we can get right now,” Renner said. He said that alcohol abuse may be partly a reflection of Drake students trying to fill some need not currently being met.
“We’re looking into alternative ways to meet that need in a healthy and non-destructive manner,” he said. “This includes looking into keeping some campus facilities open 24 hours, more late-night programming and other initiatives.”
Henry said she has ideas on how to raise awareness and increase safety on campus. She said she has faith in the Drake community, even after one of the “Rape is not OK” posters was burned down outside of Spike’s last week.
“I suppose if I could make two grand wishes, I wish that we had more services, or at least more easily accessible and known services for victims, even without having to report,” she said. “And also some sort of education program for men. So much of sexual assault is framed as a women’s issue, but it’s a men’s issue. And until men are told, ‘Don’t rape,’ it’s not ever going to stop.”
I have been following this closely and one question is still left unanswered: What was President Maxwell’s ORIGINAL statement regarding the sexual assaults? He alluded to the fact that the Des Moines Register ‘juxtaposed’ his statement about underage/binge drinking with the article about the sexual assaults. That’s fine, but that would mean a statement about the assaults actually *existed* and the DMR failed to print it.
Why is this important? Because at the time, it doesn’t appear Maxwell crafted a statement that could be presented to the reporter who requested one. Only until the Faculty Senate meeting–thanks to Professor Esposito for speaking so forcefully about the issue–did actual discussion begin about *crafting* a statement. There’s much more to this story that needs to be uncovered. Namely, where is the original statement that Maxwell was asked to provide for the Register article? My guess is it doesn’t exist.
Um… both the TD and the Des Moines Register published the original statement. It is available here: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009911170375
Um, then please explain this statement from Maxwell’s email: “This past Tuesday, The Des Moines Register printed a statement that one of their reporters requested from me as president of Drake University in response specifically to the incident of near-fatal alcohol poisoning last week. The Register printed that statement in a box alongside an article about two sexual assaults on Drake women students.”
So the statement printed was from the hazing/alcohol poisoning incident, right? If that statement referenced that incident, then where was the statement to address the sexual assaults?
Sorry, I’m still not convinced there ever was a statement *specific* to the sexual assaults. If the DMR printed the “wrong” one, then certainly Maxwell could have asked them for a correction and print whatever he submitted to them but alas, he didn’t have one.
Way to put him on trial. Wait, what did he do? President Maxwell released an official statement about the Phi Delta Theta incident, and you proceed to crucify him because of the timing of the release? Sorry, but official University statements are rarely, if ever, off the cuff, and as such, they take time to “craft.” You are skewering him because someone else misinterpreted the first release to be a response to the sexual assaults? Excuse me, but why don’t you rip into the actual scumbags responsible for these crimes and leave the University alone? As a University official, of course he had to make a statement about the recent incidents, and in my opinion, the text of his first statement (regarding alcohol) fits perfectly into the other situations as well. Or did you not get it? Synopsis: abusing alcohol can lead to some really bad consequences. Does that somehow not apply to all three situations? I commented on the original story about the 2nd sexual assault last week, essentially saying that a whole lot of “blame” needed to go round. And yet, you are still caught up in the idea that certain people can’t be held responsible for their actions or neglect. Grow up.
You are correct in saying that President Maxwell never made a statement specifically addressing the sexual assaults. First, at the time he gave a statement, only one sexual assault case had been reported. Second, because the case had been so recently reported, without an investigation, it was not proper legal procedure to comment on the reported sexual assault case.
Neither Maxwell nor Drake as an institution intended to place blame or doubt the credibility of the report in not giving a statement – there simply was not enough information to give a statement while still representing the university effectively. The statement Maxwell was referring to was the one published in the original sexual assault stories.