Abigale Szlajen has been assaulted six times, four times by University of Vermont students, she said at the Waterman building on campus Wednesday, where hundreds of students turned out to protest campus sexual violence.
This is the first semester in which she has not been assaulted, she said, as she demanded that the administration “do better.”
“I refuse to let my experiences and my assaulters control how I live,” said Szlajen, a junior, who was one of eight speakers at the walkout at noon. “… What they did to me is not my fault.”
Champlain College students are organizing a similar walkout on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. in the Rozendaal courtyard near the statue of Samuel de Champlain. They are protesting the college administration’s practice of allowing students with Title IX reports filed against them to remain in student leadership positions, against the student body’s wishes, organizers told VTDigger.
Title IX is the federal civil rights law passed as a part of education amendments in 1972 that prohibits sex-based discrimination.
“Champlain College cares more about its reputation than its survivors. They have ignored our cries for help for far too long,” Ava Warren, a senior and a lead organizer, said in an email.
Warren said the Title IX process lacks transparency, the college often leaves survivors hanging during their investigation process and it fails to offer adequate support for its survivors.
The events are part of a nationwide walkout organized by Explain the Asterisk, a campaign originally organized by UVM sophomore Syd Ovitt in 2018, fueled by her own experience reporting a sexual assault in which her perpetrator was not held responsible for what happened.
With at least 20 colleges nationwide participating in the walkouts on Wednesday and Thursday, Ovitt, a 2021 graduate, told VTDigger she is deeply proud of UVM students today.
“I think it’s really easy to think that sexual assault is only really bad at your university, and while there are institution-specific problems, every college has a sexual assault problem, it’s happening EVERYWHERE,” she said in an email. “That’s what we really wanted to remind folks.”
Three years later, UVM students continue to demand transparency and accountability from the administration in the way it handles sexual assault reports and in the way it treats survivors.
The demands, which were read aloud on Wednesday, are:
- That the UVM administration commit to transparency and “commit to a process that is rooted in the values of restorative justice.”
- That the school hires additional, trained, campus advocates for the student population.
- Doubling the numbers of counselors on staff with the counseling and psychiatry services.
- That accommodations “are given to survivors, who need it.”
- That the university “takes responsibility for fraternities, unrecognized or not, that are continuously hurting our community” and that “Greek life be abolished.”
A more comprehensive demand letter was sent to the administration Wednesday afternoon.
Lead organizer Sabine Love, a sophomore and a survivor of sexual assault who read the demands aloud, said the student statistics on sexual violence are “nothing short of absolutely jarring,” along with the stress, fear and mental challenges that often follow and tend to limit opportunities for survivors. “And that needs to change,” she said.
“I condemn the University of Vermont’s lack of concrete support for survivors, and lack of accountability for the perpetrators of this violence,” she said amid cheers from the crowd. “This administration has continuously let us down as students. They have protected the abusers who continue to walk the halls of this school. And we have had enough.”
In an email, UVM spokesperson Enrique Corredera forwarded the WeHearYou site created in the wake of student protests. He said it “provides a comprehensive view of all the steps the university has taken to address these concerns, including implementation of recommendations to improve Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity processes. The site includes a link to our Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct policy.”
Students held up posters that read: “Blame the system, not the victims,” “UVM needs to protect survivors, not its reputation,” and “My body is not your playground.” Students chanted: “Believe survivors or you’ll be fired,” and draped on the steps were two white sheets painted upon with red letters that said “Believe us” and “Do better.”
Reid Corliss, a junior and another survivor who spoke at the event, told VTDigger he would like to see the administration take students’ well-being seriously and provide resources to students in need. These include expanding psychiatry and counseling services, currently limited to six sessions per semester if you can get a counselor at all, he said.
The Title IX process alone is inadequate and prevents many survivors from filing reports. Students need a process that will allow for accountability and healing, he said.
“We support survivors. We love survivors. We believe in survivors. And we deserve to be believed by this university’s administration,” Love said, directing students to advocates from HOPE Works, a nonprofit serving Chittenden County, who were available on campus until 3 p.m. to provide support and create a safe space for survivors of sexual assault, in coordination with Elliot Ruggles, UVM’s first sexual violence prevention and education coordinator, who was hired this year.
A handful of staff members also joined the protest. Among them was UVM Staff United leader Ellen Kaye, who works in the library. “I was inside bargaining for a fair contract and am outside to support students, which is what staff do. We are in solidarity with students and the students are in solidarity with us,” she said.
Martha Lance, an Honors College academic adviser who is on the staff union bargaining committee, said she works directly with students who are recovering from sexual assault. “There is a lot of anxiety about this,” she said. “We need to normalize getting more mental health support.”
This is not the first time that UVM has faced these accusations. In May, students protested an inquiry into the university’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations that largely upheld the existing procedures. In February, they rallied after UVM posted and removed comments on Instagram pertaining to sexual assault. Several thousand students held a walkout last spring to call on the university to strengthen its procedures for investigating allegations of sexual assault.
Amid those protests, an Instagram account called @ShareYourStoryUVM sprang up in April 2021, publishing anonymous accounts detailing allegations of sexual misconduct on campus. As of Wednesday, that account had published 500 posts, marking allegations from childhood abuse and nonconsensual drugging to partner violence, stalking and gaslighting.
Erica Caloiero, vice provost for student affairs, who attended Wednesday’s event, told VTDigger that the administration is having conversations about the sort of changes students are demanding, but did not have a timeline or specifics to share.
“Many, many community members are deeply invested in working together as a community to create change,” she said.
She did not speak directly to the demand letter, as she had not had time to process it, but expressed her “admiration and respect for students, broadly, and survivors, specifically, for choosing to speak up and speak out and for choosing to work together with us. That partnership is transformational. It’s very important.”
Danelle Berube, vice president for student affairs and Title IX coordinator at Champlain College, said in an email that prevention of sexual assault is “a critically important topic” for the school and that its leaders recognize the courage of students in organizing and sharing their voices.
“Champlain’s highest priority is the health and safety of our students, and we do not tolerate sexual misconduct in any form. We take all reports of sexual misconduct seriously and strive to remove all barriers for students to report issues and access support and resources,” she said.
She pointed to several initiatives including mandatory education for first-year students, a range of resources on and off campus, and recently, a “Culture of Consent” survey for undergraduate students to collect feedback to improve the campus climate. Results are expected by the end of the semester. The college also plans to hire a new Title IX coordinator this fall, she said.
The events coincide with April being the month for sexual assault awareness and Denim Day, held on the last Wednesday of the month, when people wear jeans in a show of support for survivors and to educate each other about sexual violence.
“I think it’s important for folks to remember that this is happening all the time. We are always surviving; protests aren’t just for when there’s a catalyst event,” said Ovitt, whose petition has more than 53,650 signatures and whose main aim is to enact legislation requiring colleges and universities to explicitly indicate when someone is dismissed from college for sexual assault.
“Our hope is that we can harness this collective power and improve the college experience for everyone, and hopefully get new Title IX regulations,” she said.
