When University of Vermont student Sydney Ovitt was sexually assaulted her freshman year, she remembered asking herself: What happens if her alleged perpetrator hurts someone else, again?
Now, in a search for accountability, she’s asking lawmakers to enact a law that would require Vermont colleges to note on a transcript if a student had engaged in sexual misconduct if they were dismissed for the behavior.
A university board investigated Ovitt’s case and eventually found the accused student not responsible. Through tears at a legislative task force hearing last week, the UVM junior described how the assault caused her to suffer academically. She exited her freshman year with a 1.5 GPA.
“I haven’t been able to study abroad, or get internships,” Ovitt said. “So it’s not just them who are affected by things on their transcripts, it’s me too.”
The experience led Ovitt to found Explain the Asterisk, a student group that is advocating for transcript notations that disclose when students are found responsible and dismissed for sexual misconduct. Currently, colleges are not federally mandated to disclose why a student has been dismissed on their academic files.
Ovitt, a member of the task force, attended the meeting with other student advocates to urge other members to recommend an adoption of a law that would require this disclosure and mirror others already in place in states like New York and Virginia — an idea the task force is charged with investigating.
Junior Poloma Wallace, who is also a member of Explain the Asterisk, said she has heard other concerns from students through her work in the group who feel unsafe not knowing if their peers may have past, unreported sexual misconduct charges, potentially allowing them to reoffend.
“I believe everyone has a right to an education, but that right should be free from sexual harm, and without transcript notations that is something many people don’t have,” Wallace said. “It doesn’t seem fair that these abusers get to start fresh in a new school with a clean slate while their actions will likely stay with their victims for the rest of their lives.”
However, this proposal for transcript notations has garnered some criticism. Sen. Philip Baruth, D/P-Chittenden, a task force member, acknowledged that there are some critics who see this measure as a shameful “scarlet letter” when attached to transcripts. Which is why, if a law is enacted, he said he would like to pair it with potential preventative education programming for students, in order to reform their behavior without ostracizing them.
Ovitt said she is aware of these concerns. She said her advocacy for the notations stems from a need for accountability, not banishment.
“I don’t want to bar anyone from their access to an education because it is so, so important,” Ovitt said, “especially education around the actions that they may have done.”
She said that if Vermont were to enact a law requiring transcript notations, she would like to see it include an option for those accused to attach their own statement regarding the notation, so they have an opportunity to explain their dismissal. Ovitt said she also wants Vermont to track the demographics of the students who receive notations, in order to identify if marginalized students are being disproportionately affected.
Catherine Welch, director of student life outreach and assessment at St. Michael’s College and chair of the task force, said she envisioned the group proposing an all-encompassing measure that included educational programming coupled with added transcription notations.
Chani Waterhouse, a task force member and director of member relations for the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, said it is important for the task force to support restorative justice for the accused.
“People who cause sexual harm don’t disappear,” Waterhouse said. “We can’t vote them off the island.”
Last week’s meeting was the third so far. The next session is Nov. 13.
