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.”