Patterson was first indicted on Sept. 13 but was not required to be present at court. However, he was later arrested and appeared in court on Sept. 29. According to Chief of Police John Carter, Patterson is currently "trespassed from campus." In addition, President Anthony Marx stated that "the College is fully cooperating with the prosecuting authorities."
Yet, despite the actions being taken by the College, many students were unaware of the rape that occurred during Reunion Weekend at Humphries House on the night of May 28. For many students, the first knowledge of the incident came from an opinion piece submitted to The Amherst Student by friends of the victim and Patterson. The pieces were in response to Patterson's appearance at the Luau TAP before his indictment. However, since then the College has not released a formal announcement to the community, and the incident remains unknown among many students.
This reality has raised concerns among some students who believe that the College's response has been insufficient. "I didn't know of any response made by the school at all," said Rebecca Lakind '06, a friend of the victim. "In the end, I think I'm pretty ashamed of the school for not having any public response to this at all. It just looks so bad for them." Pat Savage '07 echoed Lakind's sentiment. "What response? If they've made a response, I haven't seen it," he said.
The incident has also brought to light the campus' silence on such issues, despite the variety of sexual awareness events it provides throughout the year. Lakind said she firmly believed the campus is too silent on rape-related incident. "[But] I'm not sure how to change that," she said. "We [Savage, Shannon Rush '07, Jessica Blanton '06E and Lakind] wrote the [letter] because it just seemed totally wrong that almost nobody knew what was going on."
Savage agreed with Lakind, stating that he felt weekly campus awareness events do not provoke the correct response. "I was going to say that the campus is too silent about these issues as whole, but thinking about it, every week you have some group doing a sexual violence awareness project," he said. "I think maybe the problem is that people discuss it in terms that are easy to gloss over. It never felt real to me until it actually happened to my friend."
Rush echoed Savage and Lakind's sentiments. "The campus is definitely too silent about these issues," she said. Rush added that the lack of dialogue was also related to victims' tendencies to keep silent. "Most stories heard about sexual violence are told to close friends who are sworn to secrecy," she said. "While I don't believe that oath should be broken, I do wish that we didn't have to feel that such subjects warrant secrecy and shame. I believe a lot of women suffer in silence because they don't want to deal with pity, or be thought of differently, or have their actions questioned."
Assistant Director of Health Education and Sexual Assault Counselor Gretchen Krull offered national statistics which reflect Rush's statement. "Forty-two percent of women [who are raped] never tell anyone," she said. "We assume that there are 10 times more assaults than reported."
Savage also said he believes that the College's tendency to side with the victim was problematic and was not the proper way to address the issue. "I don't think that this is the right way to deal with it, even though I was roughly in the same position," he said.
Rush pointed out that the College's weak response was probably due to the fact that the incident occurred after the end of the school year and the fact that the two students involved are now graduates. "By the time the victim decided on legal action, it was the summer," she said.
Marx agreed with Rush. "The incident happened after school was over. It was therefore-and because both parties were graduates-it did not fall within our disciplinary purview," he said. "We had to, therefore, wait for public authorities to decide whether they would press charges. Once they decided to press charges it was in the public record."
Students note that the College has been supportive to the victim, despite its lack of response. "I do know that the victim met with college administrators, namely Dean Lieber and President Marx, who were both supportive and receptive to her suggestions for combating the sense of entitlement that she sees as part of the problem of sexual violence on this campus," Rush said. "I also know that the victim contacted Gretchen Krull, who was a source of support and advice."
Lakind agreed that the College has a strong support system for victims of sexual violence: "I know some peer advocates ... [they have] all the qualities you'd want in a person with whom you were talking about serious personal stuff." Lakind added, "I know Gretchen Krull is very available to talk and very eager to be there for anyone and everyone who approaches her."
Students who have been sexually assaulted can find support not only among friends but also among Peer Advocates and resident counselors (RCs) and Krull. "Depending on the needs, deans, therapists, RCs, coaches, professors, friends [and] religious advisors have all been part of a team approach for support," said Krull. "Anyone involved with a survivor can receive information, counseling … for their own needs or to assist the survivor."
Krull also emphasized the need to let students know that they can report sexual assault without being obliged to take any more action than they wish. "I feel it is imperative that students know that they can report a situation without a need to take any specific action," said Krull. "According to federal guidelines, if we know or should have known that harassment has occurred on campus, we are obligated to respond in accordance with the victim's wishes. However, if a student reports to a confidential resource [such as] Peer Advocates, health care providers, mental health practitioners, religious advisors or me as a certified Sexual Assault Counselor, no action to respond is required."
Despite the various resources that are available to the campus, many students feel that more needs to be done. "I think that there are efforts to raise awareness on campus," said Rush. "However, these events such as Naked Truth and Domestic Violence Week only seem to provide support and validation for those on campus who already believe sexual disrespect is a problem need attention."
Savage agreed with Rush and said that unless the College does not clearly state its position, the problems of addressing sexual assaults will not be resolved. "I think that having some sort of college disciplinary procedure to quickly determine the situation with regards to Amherst College would be vital," he said. "As one weekend showed, the moral and legal dilemmas that arise when the public is forced to make pseudo-legal decisions are enormous and impossible to judge accurately. I think that by holding a fast, relatively fair hearing through the College and deciding how the College stands in the process would be crucial."