The following is a response crafted by the Washington State University English faculty regarding the revelation that WSU is among 55 schools currently under Title IX investigation over the handling of sexual assault allegations. The administration reported and responded to the probe on May 1, and The Seattle Times covered it on May 2. I am proud to be part of a faculty who is passionate about ending both sexual violence and the secrecy surrounding it. Both problems are all too common on American college campuses.
Dear President Floyd,
The U.S. Department of Education recently released a list of universities under investigation for their handling of sexual assault allegations by students. We were dismayed to find Washington State University on that list, and as faculty members we are ready and committed to transforming our campus and its culture.
The large number of sexual assaults on American campuses—the vast majority of which are unreported—has devastating consequences for not only individual victims but also the campus community as a whole. According to the AAUP’s report on Campus Sexual Assault: Suggested Policies and Procedures, co-authored by Professor Donna L. Potts of the WSU English Department, “Sexual assault may affect students’ academic achievement as well as their capacity to contribute to the campus community. […] Along with decline in academic performance and social withdrawal, long-term outcomes may include increased risk of depression, substance abuse, self-harm, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress, personality disorders, and suicide.” These consequences are only magnified when victims are met with official disregard.
We therefore applaud the administration’s decision to comply with the investigation, provide information, meet with representatives, participate in OCR’s “voluntary resolution” process, and state unequivocally that WSU “does not tolerate any form of sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other sexual misconduct.” We hope that WSU can immediately implement procedures identified in new federal guidelines for responding to campus sexual assault: adopting effective prevention programs, gathering more accurate data on campus assaults, and striving for greater transparency. We would also like to see an expansion of bystander training (such as WSU’s Green Dot program) and continuing efforts to ensure that officers who respond to allegations are properly trained to do so.
None of these measures, however, will be as effective without the full engagement of WSU’s faculty. As faculty members, we are especially well-positioned to lead this fight against sexual assault, and we are committed to doing so. Those of us in English, for example, teach the majority of first-year students, and we are ready to explore co-curricular opportunities to combat directly not only the problem of sexual assault but the larger social and campus culture that enables it. Along with colleagues in other departments, many of us regularly research and teach about issues of gender and sexuality, sexual violence, and prejudice, and we are ready to work to improve the materials and other educational experiences—speakers, readings, campus conversations—that address these issues.
We are especially committed to moving outside our classrooms and working with our counterparts in Student Affairs and advisors and members of student groups to develop a more comprehensive and integrated approach. Along with the Dean of Student Affairs and CCGRS, we have arranged for Laura Gray-Rosendale, author of an award-winning memoir on her rape, College Girl: A Memoir, to come to campus next year to speak and conduct workshops.
We are ready to work with you, Provost Bernardo, and all other members of the university community—faculty, students, and staff—to transform the climate at Washington State. Changing the culture of assault and silence demands the attention of all of us—men and women; faculty, students, and staff; and individuals of all sexualities.
Anything less than our full commitment to create an assault-free campus would effectively disempower and victimize the members of our community who have experienced assault. It would, in short, make us complicit, and we will not be complicit.
Chris Arigo
Assistant Professor of English
Kristin Arola
Associate Professor of English
Digital Technology and Culture Director
Nancy Bell
Associate Professor of English
English as a Second Language Program Coordinator
Todd Butler
Associate Professor and Chair of English
Gail Chermak
Professor and Chair of Speech and Hearing Sciences
Donna Campbell
Associate Professor and Vice-Chair of English
Peter Chilson
Professor of English
Bill Condon
Professor of English
Robert Eddy
Associate Professor of English
Mike Edwards
Assistant Professor of English
Patricia Ericsson
Associate Professor of English
Director of Composition
Katherine Ericsson
Instructor of English
Bryan Fry
Instructor of English
Lynn Gordon
Associate Professor of English
Director of Avery Microcomputer Lab
Sallie M. Tomie Gowdy-Burke
Instructor
First-Year Focus Faculty
William Hamlin
Professor of English
Director of Graduate Studies
Lori Beth De Hertogh
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Jon Hegglund
Associate Professor of English
Leeann Hunter
Clinical Assistant Professor of English
Debbie Lee
Professor of English
Kirk McAuley
Assistant Professor of English
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Aaron Oforlea
Associate Professor of English
Mary Ellen Pastor
Instructor
Nicola Perera
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Wendy Dasler Johnson
Associate Professor of English
Faculty Coordinator, Secondary Education in English
Aaron Moe
Charles Blackburn Postdoctoral Fellow
Joelle C. Moen
Graduate Student
Donna L. Potts
Professor
Chair, AAUP Committee on Women in the Academic Profession
T.V. Reed
Buchanan Distinguished Professor of English and American Studies, Washington State University
Distinguished Visiting Professor, York University [2013-14]
Kandy Robertson
Clinical Associate Professor of English
Writing Center Coordinator, Vancouver
Diversity Council Chair
Augusta Rohrbach
Associate Professor of English
Editor ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance
Edie-Marie Roper
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Linda Russo
Clinical Assistant Professor of English
Leslie Jo Sena
University College Common Reading Assessment
Instructor, Department of English
Washington State University
Carol Siegel
Professor of English
Elizabeth Siler
Clinical Assistant Professor
English as a Second Language Specialist
Ashina Sipiora
MA Literature
Kate Watts
Instructor of English
Roger Whitson
Assistant Professor of English
Sky Wilson
Graduate Teaching Assistant