Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
Op-Ed submitted by Mia Ferguson
Andrea Pino notes in her article, “it’s hard to say what could be worse than my rape.”
I was sexually assaulted my first year at Swarthmore. With the support of friends, teammates, classmates, RAs, CAs, peer counselors, and staff members, I’ve come to a secure emotional place regarding the experience that allows me to identify as a “survivor”.
The past few days, however, have thrown me into trauma. My assault was not violent. My assailant hasn’t physically retaliated against me (then again, I am strong and so are my friends…). I haven’t been frequently triggered. So, what has horrified me this week? The administrators’ mishandling of my case.
Members of the administration have attempted to push me into darkness. They summon those who are closest to me, those whom I first told about my assault, into “emergency” meetings. When I am summoned to no such meetings, I feel powerless. When they try to get access to my emails, which I understand they are already reading, I feel powerless. When they summon my assailant to a meeting, without informing me, I am powerless. I am unsafe.
When I, however, have the support of members of the student body, members of the faculty, a national network of people fighting these issues, and, primarily, the law, I am not powerless. When I can speak out about my experiences, I am not powerless.
As many of you know, on April 18, Hope Brinn and I submitted a Clery Complaint to the Department of Education regarding Swarthmore’s violations of the Clery Act. From under-reporting and intimidating to under-publicizing crimes on campus, Swarthmore has failed to fulfill this act on many counts. We will soon be submitting our Title IX Complaint to the Office of Civil Rights. The complaint identifies specific cases in which members of the college’s administration have discriminated against, retaliated against, and furthered the trauma of students. If you are interested in gaining an understanding of what exact parts of the Clery Act and Title IX the college has violated, feel free to contact me.
I want this college to show me it doesn’t want to violate my rights; instead, those whom I thought would support me in making Swarthmore more safe, secure, and actively intolerant of sexual assault and rights violations seem to be attempting to damage me.
I can’t tell in whom I should place my trust. There are members of this administration who are in support of what I’m doing. They are inhibited from coming forward because of the system that mandates they stay quiet, or risk their employment. I wonder, however, would you risk your employment to be certain that your friend weren’t shoved against a wall, suffocated, and raped?
Some victims of sexual assault start to feel guilty when their assailant faces consequences for the assault. If you murder someone on a city street, you likely know that you’ll face jail-time. If you rape someone on a college campus, you likely have no idea what consequence you’ll face. We need to clarify these things so that perpetrators are deterred, because of consequences, from assaulting, and so that victims don’t feel they’re doing wrong by addressing their assailants’ crime.
Some might assert I have hurt the college, or at least its administration and reputation. This, to me, feels a lot like I am the sexual assault victim and the college is the perpetrator. They don’t know their consequences, they won’t own up to their wrongdoing, and I become the bad guy for noting their crime.
I do not want to damage this college’s reputation. I want to graduate from Swarthmore and look back not only fondly, but proudly on the way the students, faculty, staff, administration, and entire community behaves. I have viewed this as an opportunity for the college to prove how outstanding it is.
Students have been supportive. Many have expressed that their legal rights have been violated. They have asked questions like: how can we help? How does this affect financial aid? Why did we go to this extent?
Faculty members have been supportive. Many have expressed that they have seen their students’ legal rights have been violated. They have asked questions like: how do we support our students? How can we help communicate with the administration? How can we speak out?
The administration has said nothing but that action must happen. My rights, however, continue to be violated. Students’ rights have continued to be violated; yet, the administration has not expressed that they have violated students’ rights, that they have violated federal law.
Why is the administration the one group that doesn’t vocally want justice for survivors when they are the group responsible for the rights of survivors?
Swarthmore claims that its strategic direction will pursue “academic rigor and imagination, an intentional community dedicated to the common good, and the future of liberal arts in the nation and the world.”
There are certainly big questions to be asked. Nationally, college and universities will continue to struggle with complex laws. Do we want elaborate legal proceedings on our campus that means we have legal professionals around? Or, will that change our culture too much? These are difficult questions, but necessary to ask, and to ask publicly as this issue is on the national forefront. *
A faculty member said to me that he envisioned this movement would become a historical one; by the end of Swarthmore’s semester, a minimum of 8 schools will be submitting complaints that receive national media attention. Swarthmore will not be a black sheep for violating these laws, though they will stand out as a supposedly progressive and social justice driven institution. Swarthmore, however, has the opportunity to go down in the history books as being the national leader. Instead of shying away from students’ complaints, instead of avoiding complainants, instead of pushing students into lawsuits, instead of permitting retaliation and intimidation of students, Swarthmore could recognize its violations publicly, and produce effective solutions so that the rest of the country can follow suit. Swarthmore can be not just a city on a hill, but also a pack leader. *
Hope and I applied to be on the Sexual Assault Management Task Force, neither of us was selected but we were nominated by Student Council. Neither of us has been approached by any administrator for our thoughts and intentions in this process, though we have made ourselves readily available via email communications.
After being left in the dark for almost two weeks, I submitted A Preservation of Evidence Letter to the college, asking that the administration not destroy any evidence related to the college’s violations of federal law.
The college responded, as was expected, with an email directing me to their lawyer Michael Baughman at Pepper Hamilton.
What we have submitted is not a lawsuit. We are addressing two main laws, both of which overlap in many ways, the Clery Act and Title IX. These two acts entitle not only victims of sexual assault, but all students, to various rights. These rights apply not only to alleged victims, but to alleged perpetrators.
As anger, horror, and trauma have become visible all over campus, I’ve been asked many times: how big of an issue is this? Is oppression and discrimination that bad here? Since Title IX was instituted, thirty-three years ago, in the United States, 20-25% of college aged women will be survivors of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault before earning their diplomas (U.S. Department of Justice, 2002). Despite under-reporting and intimidation, over 25 sexual assaults have occurred on campus this year, that’s two percent of our present student body.
As demonstrated by the Coalition and the sit-in occurring today, sexual assault is not the only kind of oppression, discrimination, violence, and trauma to which Swarthmore students are victim.
On Swarthmore’s campus, students have experienced tokenizing in their classrooms. Students have further been violently harassed and assaulted due to their sex, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, and other identity traits.
I am not flailing my arms. I am not screaming in protest. If we turn to the law, there’s no question that we, the students, including alleged perpetrators, have been violated. We don’t need to scream and shout for the public to realize that, and they are. For me, this violation, this betrayal by those whom I wanted to trust most, is worse than my rape.
If you have any questions about the law, or any of this process, please contact me by phone at 617-921-5692, by email at miaferguson@icloud.com, or on twitter @miaferg.
*The noted segments appeared in an email I sent to the Board of Managers on Sunday.
I think it was pointed out early on that the College would have to “lawyer up”. The accusations made and the complaints and press conference were well publicized, including in the NYTimes, which obviously was what was intended. There are all kinds of issues involved for the College, such as Federal funding, accreditation, lawsuits and a host of other ramifications.
Although the college and the students involved have the same goal of protecting Swarthmore students, this issue has now been taken to a level that could involve subpoenas, depositions, time in court, lawyers needed for all parties, the publication of names of the accused, etc. This may lead to some very serious litigation, criminal accusations, arrests of accused perpetrators, fines against Swarthmore, suspension of accreditation, vast amounts of publicity concerning all parties, firings of College administrators. etc. I predict that monies totaling well into 6 figures will be spent on attorneys, on all sides. In addition, much time will be spent on this by the administration, faculty and students.
If the end result is a safer campus, then the goal will have been achieved.
The legal bills for the will be significantly higher than six figures by the time all is said and done. The final sum by the time all the legal claims are laid to rest will be well into the millions. In the end, these millions will have to come from an existing budget line item (hiring new faculty, financial aid etc) or from liability insurance. I am not sure liability insurance covers this type of thing. If it does the premiums for colleges will be sky rocketing in the near future.
I have no comment on this matter. I hold a neutral stance but it is great to know that parts of the full tuitions I paid in the past four years are going be wasted this way. I don’t care too much about this because I cannot take this seriously after the referendum turned out to be the biggest joke. However I do care about the large sum of money I paid this school. Thank you. Thank you very much Mia, and your friends. You have succeeded in being in the center of the spot light. Congratulations.
I would be very interested to see which party will be taking the most damage at the end.
I don’t understand. The article clearly states Mia isn’t pursuing a lawsuit. I feel like, even if she does, or any survivor does, it’s because of the damages the college has put on them.
Additionally, I think fines and expenses will come out of insurance for things like this. So, yes, Swarthmore’s insurance policy might become a bit more expensive, but I think an endowment that’s 4th in the country can spare a couple dimes (from our tuitions too…).
Perhaps I’m missing something, but it seems to me that if you think complying with federal laws meant to prevent sexual assault are a wasteful use of your tuition money, you *do* have a stance on this issue, and I’m not sure it’s one I appreciate.
So Brave.
“On Swarthmore’s campus, students have experienced tokenizing in their classrooms. Students have further been violently harassed and assaulted due to their sex, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, and other identity traits.”
Not sure what this refers to? Examples?
Yes, yes, and yes.
I really wonder if there is any person or institution in the world that is not guilty of systematic oppression and disempowering the oppressed. When Temple had a professor commit suicide last October, did they do all they could to comfort his friends and family? No. Did Harvard do EVERYTHING they could to prevent a SINGLE instance of sexual assault? No. Do I consistently give money to charities to alleviate poverty and so empower the hungry masses? No. The blood is on everyone’s hands, folks.
If you want to accept that premise, that’s okay as it pertains to “guilt” – i.e. we’re all guilty of oppression. But there are times when you can be guilty but not necessarily have responsibility.
I’m not saying that we don’t have a responsibility in our own community, I think we do. But does each and every one of us have a responsibility to stop all oppression everywhere in the world? That is quite clearly an unreasonable burden. You can say we’re all guilty of perpetuating it, but to have responsibility to stop all of it is a monumental burden which no individual, however well intentioned, can achieve. Unless you think that everyone must be terrible people for not alleviating all suffering, in which case we’ll have to agree to disagree on our definitions of morality.
It’s a fairly semantic point I suppose, but an important one when considering the limits of change possible by us in our community and in the world. I think insofar as we can improve the situation here on campus, we should do so, but I really don’t see what message you’re trying to get across here.
You are a remarkably unsympathetic asshole. How could you possibly read Mia’s story and then respond with that comment?
Right, and I can start becoming a more sympathetic and caring person by sounding more like you?
I don’t think there is any safer community than Swarthmore. Certain students here have to be protected in every single way. It is unfortunate that they will have to face all kinds of challenges after they get out of this place.
To whom are you referring when you say certain students? I assume those who have been assaulted would argue this community has not been the safest for them. Let’s assume, however, that Swarthmore may be somewhat safe, why wouldn’t we want it to be safer? Why wouldn’t we want students here to be free from oppression? If we can create a utopia here, maybe it’ll be possible to create utopia in the rest of the world.
Challenges exist, yes, and almost any student who has been oppressed at Swarthmore has dealt with that oppression outside of Swarthmore too. Being a first generation student, a racial minority, ethnic minority, queer, genderqueer, lower-class, abused, mentally ill, etc., are not exclusive to Swarthmore. But when you are here to learn, to reap all the benefits of what Swarthmore provides, I would hope Swarthmore’s community members could, at a minimum, treat its students with common decency.
I’d argue that most people consider protection from rape to be a pretty basic protection.
Why imply that those upset about rape are being entitled and whiny?
Do you not see how awful that sounds/is?
(In asking this, I am not implying I wasn’t horrified by other things as I was reading this, but this stuck out to me as something I would be interested to hear more about) –
“Members of the administration have attempted to push me into darkness. They summon those who are closest to me, those whom I first told about my assault, into “emergency” meetings. When I am summoned to no such meetings, I feel powerless. When they try to get access to my emails, which I understand they are already reading, I feel powerless. ”
Can you clarify what you mean by this (hopefully in a very careful way because this could have legal consequences)? Are you implying the administration has “had access” to your personal Swatmail account or something along those lines? That is how it read to me. I am genuinely just wondering what that means.
Read the acceptable use policy. Swarthmore has access to everything.
I continue to be saddened by this story, but also heartened at the courage of students to stand for justice. I wish more colleges, especially elite and beloved schools like Swat, would take note of opportunities like the Parallel Justice Project (http://www.paralleljustice.org/) and consider bringing it to their campus. Parallel Justice believes justice not only requires a fair and appropriate response to people who commit crimes; it also requires helping victims of crime rebuild their lives. We call this vision Parallel Justice for victims of crime. Responses is rooted in a community-wide commitment to help victims restore their lives regardless of whether or not a perpetrator is found and faces consequences.
I would like to send my strongest thanks and encouragement to Mia Ferguson. To come forward after a sexual assault, especially in a forum as public as this, takes true courage. To all of you who are complaining about lawsuits and insurance premiums, you need to keep in mind that it is Swarthmore that allegedly violated Title IX, not Ms. Ferguson. THEY are responsible for their failure to comply with Title IX, and Ms. Ferguson should not be blamed for seeking justice. If you found out that your boyfriend was not being afforded his civil rights because he is black, or that your girlfriend was not being afforded her civil rights because she is a lesbian, would you think twice about them seeking justice and blame them for doing so? In a slightly different vein, if a dorm on the Swarthmore campus collapsed or there was a preventable fire in the dining hall or some other sort of tragic accident, I’m sure you would all agree that Swarthmore should be held liable for the appropriate damages. You would not complain that the complainant was filing a lawsuit or driving up the college’s insurance premiums. I would ask you to afford Ms. Ferguson the same respect. She believes that she was wronged according to federal law, and has every right to pursue her complaint. If you have a problem with this, you need to ask yourself what you can do to decrease sexual violence on campus or how the administration could better uphold their obligations under Title IX. Do not blame Ms. Ferguson.
Pointing out the fact that the Clery Act and Title IX filings will result in massive legal bills is not a complaint. Neither is it the placement of blame on the persons making these filings.
It is merely a statement of fact.
I think Amanda may have been referring to the comment in which someone complained that his tuition dollars would be “wasted” if they went to a lawsuit resulting from rape…
This “wait until you get into the real world” argument is getting really old. We are not children. Each and every one of us understands that Swat is not akin to the real world. We understand that Swat is a bubble in many ways. But that is exactly what makes this the perfect opportunity to act on things such as these. People should be held accountable. People need to listen when others are hurt. People who refuse to listen need to have articles like these to make them see that this shit is real, this isn’t going away, and measures need to be taken. We do have certain privileges that may not be afforded to us in the “real world”, but does that mean we shouldn’t act? NO. It means we should act even more, speak louder, because this is an environment where we can make a difference. Where things can be changed. And guess what?! As has come up time and time again…going to college INCREASES a woman’s chances of being sexually assaulted. So yea, this is not the real world. Because here we are MORE likely to get sexually assaulted. And so it is even more pressing that we take action.
Please tell me where exactly this argument gets us? Cause it seems just ignorant and unproductive.
love and support from Oberlin College!
President Krislov has commissioned a new study on sexual harassment and has received the group’s report recommending changes to Oberlin’s current Policy. Oberlin has also reported internal and external incidents of hate, and public disrespect on national news. Has Oberlin been included in this Title IX investigation, or one of its student’s been recruited to be another victim to represent what this College is doing right vs. the other colleges being charged?
I’m pretty sure there are going to have to be meetings without your presence in order for administration to handle the case. I’m not defending their looking at your emails without consent (even though it is their right to)
, or.anything else they’re doing, but rape cases still require some sort of further investigation other than victim’s testimony. Anything anyone reports needs to be investigated. Police don’t ask victims to be at the station every time they discuss the case (mostly for the victim’s emotional sanity and health), and I imagine the same would be true here. I hope we start expelling rapists soon though, so that you don’t feel like those meetings only exist to disprove what you’re saying, since in a just system they’re trying to build a case/gather evidence.
The article states: “My assault was not violent.”
So how is it defined as a reportable crime for either Title IX or the Clery Act? Honestly, I just am not sure how this fits in? Can someone help me out here?
Definitions by Merriam-Webster:
Violent:
“marked by extreme force or sudden intense activity”
Sexual assault:
“illegal sexual contact that usually involves force upon a person without consent or is inflicted upon a person who is incapable of giving consent (as because of age or physical or mental incapacity) or who places the assailant (as a doctor) in a position of trust or authority.”
Rape:
“unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against the will usually of a female or with a person who is beneath a certain age or incapable of valid consent.”
This. I guess maybe they were intoxicated, so force wasn’t needed? I just don’t understand how sober non-violent sexual assaults happen. If someone’s not willing to get violent or threaten me, I’m not letting them have sex with me against my will.
Uh…sex without consent = rape. While the very act of rape itself is necessarily violent (not sure how anyone could describe a violation as not violent), how it came to happen might not be.
Very easy to imagine examples:
– Being scared or confused by the whole thing, and thus not physically resisting.
– The assaulter is a friend or family member, so it might be harder to physically resist.
– Being under the influence and thus not able to understand what’s happening and/or to physically resist.
And those are just the examples I came up with in about two seconds. I am sure there are a ton more.
Also, check out the FBI’s definition of rape for more info:
Honestly, I am very confused as to why you’re wondering if a rape counts as a rape…because of course it does, and talking about rape as if some are more legitimate than others is harmful.
Sorry, I just want to rephrase something.
I referred to “how it [a given rape] came to happen”, but that potentially removes agency from the perpetrator, which I am uncomfortable with.
Given that a rape has occurred, someone committed it, and they are responsible. It’s not something that mysteriously “just happens”.
So I guess what I meant was something like “the circumstances and behaviors surrounding the rape”.
“If I look up “carrot” in the dictionary, most people will acknowledge I do not know all there is to know about carrots and if I truly want to understand carrots, I should probably pick up a horticultural text book. We know that legal and medical terms are going to be, at best, simplistically represented and know we need to find a lawyer or a doctor if we want to know more. Anyone deciding to base their argument on, say, a philosophical concept or term using the dictionary is going to be laughed at at best, or automatically lose whatever argument they’re trying to make at least.
Yet the minute we move into a social justice framework, the ultimate authority changes. We don’t need lived experience, we don’t need experts who have examined centuries of social disparities and discrimination, we don’t need societal context. We don’t need sociology or history – no, we have THE DICTIONARY! That ultimate tome of oracular insight, the last word on any debate!
It’s patently ridiculous and you can see that by applying it to any other field of knowledge. But the privileged will continually trot out simplistic, twitter-style dictionary definitions as if they are the last word and the ultimate authority. No-one would drag out the dictionary to debate science with a scientist. But they’re more than willing to trot out a dictionary definition of racism over any sociological analysis. A dictionary is not the ultimate authority – they’re a rough guide for you to discover the simple meaning of words you’ve never heard before – not an ultimate definition of what the word means and all its contexts.”
— Sparky at Womanist Musings. YES!
@Sparky at Womanist Musings. YES!
Why did you take an old blog post from October 12, 2012 and insert it in this school newspaper? Are you a troll who just has the word “dictionary” linked to your blog, so you can then advertise your site? I see no relationship to Swarthmore on your site, only bitter rantings about the world.
here’s an example from your blog:
“Zahara may have the last name Jolie-Pitt but the world will not envision her two White adoptive parents when they see her, they will only see a Black child and all of the negative stereotypes that go with it.”
Huh? Why are you negative about blacks? The child is adorable. So you don’t like her haircut? That’s sexist. She is loved, not abused, and treated well. Now, back to the dictionary, don’t like dictionaries? How about wikipedia? Bad, too?
I just wanted to clarify a few things.
Most importantly, my experience is one of many. The reason why I can speak publicly about this is because I am emotionally, logistically, and societally in a space where I can talk about my trauma and the violations of such a powerful institution, Swarthmore.
Violence: I was victim of sexual violence, so, yes, it was a violent crime. My assault, however, did not leave me physically bleeding or bruised, though it was rape. Hope ’15 has gotten frustrated with me for referring to this experience as nonviolent, as it is inherently violent! I am working to keep my language clearer on that.
Investigation: I certainly encourage investigation to occur. I, however, have been asked only two questions about my case: did it occur in a residence hall? and, did you know the person who assaulted you? I have been asked no other questions, so the investigation is lacking. In addition to that, by asking my assailant questions without informing me, and without providing me the option of a no-contact order, members of the administration are putting me in a dangerous place. They have done this to many victims, and it’s very scary.
Emails: The college reserves the right to read all of our emails. Acting on that right, however, doesn’t encourage much trust. Assuming, however, that they do, what they do with the information they see in those emails is in question. Hopefully I will have more clarity and information on that soon, because, again, I still want to trust this college with my personal information and that of others who are sharing with me.
Mia: Thank you for the cogent clarification. I was truly not understanding the context and do now. Appreciate your reply.
Thank you for taking the time and emotional energy to write this, Mia. To deal with all of this while still in college seems quite overwhelming. You are brave. Swarthmore has taught you to think critically, stand up for what is right, and never ever give up. Those attributes are serving you and the many, many other survivors well as you continue your quest to make Swarthmore all it can and should be.
Sexual abuse never goes away, just as abuse suffered by children from their parents or husbands or wives suffer at the hand of their spouse never goes away. But feeling heard/listened to and changing systems that lead to such violence can help ease the mental pain that victims feel.
My daughter has suffered from PTSD and all that goes with that for years now because of what happened to her at Swarthmore. The college’s intentional horrible handling of her attempt to keep others safe from her assailant has only made things worse.
I don’t know the details of any of these cases, but were police reports filed? I’m confused why these rapes seem to be an issue about internal policies at Swarthmore rather than matters handled as criminal investigations. Even if the burden of proof isn’t enough to convict, at least there will be a record of the accused being arrested.
Hey Melissa, I appreciate your question because it comes up a lot. In an ideal world, perhaps more people would feel comfortable using the criminal/justice system. Unfortunately the entire process is extremely traumatic and survivors are often treated dismissively or forced to reveal more about their relationships and life than the relevant information, often in a very shameful way. Also- for many survivors, it takes a while (months even) for the understanding of their violation to really sink in. The brain fights the idea that you’ve been violated because it is too painful. You keep making excuses and think that you are overreacting. It is very difficult to admit that it happened. Also- since most assault and rapes are perpetrated by friends and intimate partners, the added fact that there is a betrayal makes it very difficult to articulate that people you trusted have done this to you. And you don’t want them to be punished, or you don’t know what that would mean, and if you feel like you have to defend your violator (because you don’t want them to go to jail) you don’t have time to think about and accept your violation and your experience of pain.
I have been following these national accusations since they started last year, I’ve sat quietly while attending almost all of the community meetings concerning them and other issues on this campus pertaining to oppression and misconduct of students. I have been learning, listening, having dialogues, and questioning when I did not understand, and I believe I have come to understand what legal actions should and are being taken.
I applaud the fact that you and Hope have taken this route where no one else has, but then again I believe others have tried to take this route and have been systematically discounted. This has become a white woman’s campaign and it pains me to see it because of all the good work and what I believe good intentions you both have but for the past month I have only been seeing you consistently place yourself and your struggles in the spotlight from the Daily Gazette to the New York Times. I know countless others who are doing this work and have been doing this work longer than you both and they are given no credit and neither seek it within the spotlight but I am not claiming in anyway that you both only desired to be at the forefront.
I understand that with something like this there must be something to rally behind, a story, a face, a strong leadership, but the fact that you are continuing to place yourself and Hope at the center after the initial splash has been made is detracting from the actual work that needs to be done. By making yourself the martyr for this “movement” you are pulling so much attention on yourself that I see others shying away when they once were ready to support.
I say this as a full supporter of this work and as an activist myself, that I think it is time to step back from the spotlight Mia and work with those that are not being taken up by world renown newspapers. This isn’t about you or Hope anymore, it has become something bigger and stronger and the more articles I see centering on your struggles, the more I believe that the best work should and has to be done backstage. I just worry that you and those watching these events unfold are losing sight of what is most important and that is not the backlash or the random commenters or how many times you can claim that Swarthmore is retaliating against you, it is the continuing struggles that persist because Swarthmore has not owned up to its faults and tried to make a real change.
And I believe that change will only come from combined student action, not singular voices on the front page.