As a parent, I am furious and sickened by what I heard in the Sept. 13 press conference of Delaney Robinson, the young woman at UNC who alleges sexual battery and assault by UNC football player Allen Artis.
Chancellor Folt and her administration have made addressing sexual assault and misconduct issues a high priority at UNC Chapel Hill. In fact, UNC adopted a policy two years ago on discrimination, sexual assault and harassment, and the university now has numerous full-time Title IX officers and proposes to investigate cases quickly and fairly.
But it’s been more than six months since Delaney Robinson did all the "right things," including a rape kit and filing a report with the UNC Department of Public Safety and the Title IX office. Yet, a new academic year has started. It is only through the courage of this young woman coming forward and filing charges that has brought this shameful situation to into the public eye.
By this young woman feeling compelled to take her story to the media, it seems reasonable to assume that there has been some measure of systemic failure at UNC concerning her sexual assault case and that UNC’s newly established sexual assault procedures and protocols were not followed as intended.
But where do we — as a society, parents, a community — go from here? We may not have all the facts yet, but we know enough to recognize that this is an important teachable moment to move the public dialogue forward on sexual assault and gender-based violence and to take actionable steps to address this persistent and widespread social and public health problem.
Having been the parent of a UNC female student and as a social scientist focused on gender-based research, interventions and programs, I see this unfortunate incident as an opportunity for immediate action at multiple levels. For example, school administrators, resident advisers and campus police need more and better gender-sensitivity training. Campus police also need better training to avoid questioning techniques that blame and stigmatize the victim. Further communication and follow-up is essential and must be part of any protocol so that there is confidence and accountability and transparency that sexual assault policies and protocols are being adhered to scrupulously.
Students deserve better and faster action, but mostly we all need to commit to a culture of absolute zero tolerance for campus sexual assault.
To foster the sexual assault dialogue, the RTI Global Gender Center is sponsoring a program for all of the women’s centers from our local universities, including UNC, to share their activities and how they have created safe places for students. We know there are many painful lessons to be learned and that we need to move forward swiftly to make campuses safe. This unique program exchange will be held next Thursday, Sept. 22, from 4 to 6 p.m. on the RTI campus in Research Triangle Park and will be open to students as well. To learn more or to register to attend this event, please contact bhoward@rti.org.
Wendee M. Wechsberg
