Issue:III Vol. XI
December 15, 2016
The Systemic Nature of Sexual Assault editorial by Karl Moeglein My brother came home from sixth grade one day last year and started asking why he had people coming into his class to teach him about sex and consent. No kid thinks they are going to grow up to rape and assault. What my brother may not know yet is how quickly it all changes. Suddenly middle school becomes high school and you start hearing things. Sex isn’t just something you learn about in health class, but rather it becomes part of the complex high school experience whether you are participating in it or not. Individual allegations of sexual violence are not new at Ashland High School. The issue is usually addressed by the AHS community with a mix of surface level caring and a desire to move on. This easy response is far too common. No one wants to admit that the problem goes deeper. The hard reality we must all face is that the culture of sexual violence at AHS makes the problem a systemic one that cannot be solved by solely targeting those who commit horrible acts while ignoring the societal issues that create the problem. According to a 2008 study from the University of Michigan in conjunction with Eastern Michigan University, “three out of every four high school girls reported being sexually harassed... [and] over half of high school girls reported being sexually assaulted (53%).” Furthermore, 12%
reported being raped. The effects of these actions extend far past any individual incident. A 2011 survey by the American Association of University Women showed that 12% of students stay home from school at some point and 19% had trouble sleeping because of sexual harassment. The negative impacts are significantly more pronounced for girls. One in 20 harassed girls switch schools in the year after harassment occurs. Any claims that these issues are not present at any high school, including AHS, ignores the data that shows it is always present. We cannot solve this problem until we all acknowledge it is a problem. Rape and sexual assault are driven by culture as much as individual people. Gurvinder Kalra and Dinesh Bhugra writing in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry in 2013 argue that, “sexual violence against women is often a result of unequal power equations both real and perceived between men and women and is also strongly influenced by cultural factors and values.” At high school, the lack of equality of power in relationships is obvious. Boys are the ones who ask girls out, and girls are the ones who have to look a certain way. Rape and sexual assault are explicitly tied to these inequalities. Kalra and Bhugra explain this by saying that our “attitudes toward women, rape, and rapists can predict sexual violence.” This means that our stereotypes about females and
sex are ingrained in society and create future actions. At AHS this plays a significant role in sexual assault. A culture that celebrates hypermasculinity while not equally praising the actions of other groups will always create unbalanced power structures. Allowing any group to possess more influence leads to the potential for abuse. Since Title IX was passed, the portion of the United States Education Amendments of 1972 that deals with gender and sex discrimination, all schools that receive federal funding have to handle sexual assault reports in specific ways, such as conducting a prompt investigation, protecting an alleged victim from retaliation and ensuring their safety. However sexual assault still clearly presents a major problem in the United States’ educational space. Neena Chaudhry, senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, told US News & World Report, “the problem in general seems to be that schools aren’t taking appropriate action once they have knowledge of a possible sexual assault.” While rape rates do indicate that sexual assault does increase once students go to college, there has also been an increased fight against sexual assault at universities across the US as compared to high schools. Al Jazeera America in 2014 explained that “at the college level, there have been a slew of Title IX complaints from students who say their rights were violated, and the De-
partment of Education is currently investigating 86 colleges. At the K-12 level, which hasn’t received the same explosion of awareness, just 23 districts are facing federal inquiry for mishandling sexual violence reports.” Perpetrators of sexual assault should be punished, but solving the problem will require a more thorough examination of why sexual assault happens in the first place. When it applies to AHS this comes back to two key areas. The first is education. This is a place where the Ashland School District is above average. This is why my brother began learning about consent well before he will likely need to use it. Each health class taught in Ashland School District secondary schools addresses sexual assault with critical information from experts. The problem in the status quo is that this alone has not solved the problem. The student body of AHS, along with everyone who has influence on us, from teachers to parents, must actively look to fight the culture of sexual assault. We can no longer act after terrible things happen. It is imperative that we preemptively work to deconstruct the societal norms that allow sexual assault to occur cyclically. Until the culture that exists across the United States, throughout the world, and specifically at AHS is attacked, this issue that affects everyone will continue to mar our community.
Protests Erupt Over Sexual Assault Allegations by Lili Smith photos by Colin Timmons
On December 5, 2016, former Ashland High School student Emily Skidmore publicly claimed that her reports of sexual assault by an AHS student were ignored by AHS, the Ashland School Board and Ashland School District. The response from the community was “overwhelming,” Skidmore stated. She was extremely flattered by the support from her peers and the rest of the Rogue Valley. On December 12, AHS students, including Bella Head, the “Got Consent?” campaign founder, planned a peaceful protest on the AHS campus during school hours occupying the Director of Student Services Samuel Bogdanove’s office. “Got Consent?” has been an active group on the AHS campus over the past 2 school years regarding the lack of awareness around sexual assault in the Ashland community. Signs saying “Title IX money but no accountability“ and “sexual assault isn’t a game” accused the Ashland School District of violating Title IX by not responding to Skidmore’s report in a timely fashion.
Bogdanove states, “it is important that every student feels safe at campus; everyone should feel safe reporting things. These are concerns that are everywhere on the planet, but we are here, and what can we do here?” The protest began at 12:10 p.m., and lasted through 3:37 p.m., just past the end of the school day. Approximately 60 students banded together to march and chant through the campus halls after occupying both Bogdanove’s office and the District Office. According to Skidmore “I reported it to Russ [Johnson] (Dean of Students) about a week after [the sexual assault] happened.” Skidmore says she was told by Johnson that he would give the information to Erika Bare, the Principal of AHS. Bare stated she is “confident the school follows all their Title IX obligations.” Bare was supportive of the protest, given that it did not disrupt the school environment. “I would love to work with the folks protesting,” Bare
explained. While the administration cannot comment on specific allegations due to an ongoing investigation into the claims made by Skidmore, Johnson said in a statement that he is “committed to ensuring a safe campus and learning community for all students. Students who report any act of sexual violence will be heard.” He further stated that they “take these reports very seriously.”