We live in a world now where even basic, common sense recommendations are “blaming the victim.”
Such is the premise with Gisela Factora’s Hofstra Chronicle piece which chides her campus Public Safety department for — wait for it — advising students not to let people with whom they’re not well acquainted into their dorms.
Here’s the email alert that miffed Ms. Factora:
It has been reported to Public Safety that a residential student was assaulted in their room by someone they had recently met. Please be careful about inviting people you don’t know well to your residence hall room. Call Public Safety immediately at 516-463-6789 if you or someone you know needs assistance and follow all guest policies as outlined in the Guide to Pride and Living Factor.
They even said “please.”
Factora’s first beef is that this “Safety Alert” did not include a “trigger warning” about its subject matter: sexual assault. “Opening an email like this, which begins with a mention of an assault with no prior warning, could potentially be triggering […],” she says.
Next, Factora questions whether the victim of the referenced assault gave consent for the email alert. It doesn’t matter, she argues, that the email is quite general in nature and that the victim isn’t named: “[I]t could be an upsetting experience to have your story of sexual assault sent out to the entire school.”
Then there’s that second sentence, which is the real kicker. First of all, what is Public Safety doing to apprehend the perpetrator, if anything? Second of all, if a student reports an assault, the appropriate response is not to basically blame the student for inviting someone into their room, even if that’s someone they just met. And it’s especially inappropriate to do so in an email blast.
That’s an incredibly humiliating position to be in, and an additional source of stress that this student surely does not need. Also, and this should go without saying, assault and rape are never the victim’s fault. That’s Advocacy for Survivors 101, and the fact that Hofstra failed that speaks volumes. Telling me with a patronizing “please” not to invite strangers into my room does not make me feel safe – quite the opposite, actually.
“Quite the opposite” … ?
Maybe in her next op-ed Factora can admonish people who shake their heads at those who’ve had their purses snatched from an unattended grocery cart or an unlocked car.
MORE: Frats say rape ‘everyone’s problem,’ apologize for ‘triggering survivors’
MORE: Check Your Dogma: The problem with ‘never blame the victim’
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