Potter Dismissses Student Judicial Boards at Violence on Campus Forum

An audience of 200, predominantly female, listened in rapt horror and simmering anger as a panel of experts on campus violence against women, recounted their personal stories of assault to underscore the ongoing problem of rape, stalking and physical violence against women on college campuses.

Hosted by Fox61 news anchor Laurie Perez, the panel, which included Wes grad and author Jacqueline Friedman, former news anchor Janet Pekinpaugh, director of sexual assault services at George Mason University, Connie Kirkland, and Wesleyan American studies professor Claire Potter, spoke from personal experience about the effect assault can have on a life.


"It isn't fair," Kirkland said.  "That a thirty minute rape, a fifteen minute rape, a five minute rape can have a devastating affect on a woman that can last for years.  It isn't fair that a few days of physical beating can last for thirty years."

Kirkland was reflecting on Peckinpaugh's confession that she had been a victim of assault early in her first marriage.

It's tough to speak about this," Peckinpaugh said, her voice breaking.  "Because when your a victim, you feel like a victim."

Friedman spoke frankly about her assault seventeen years ago at Wesleyan and how the administrative attempted to convince her not to speak out about her rape.

"Rapists, not even college rapists are confused," Friedman said of her research on the topic.  "They are repeat offenders.  Research shows that rapists are really clear.  It's the rest of us who aren't clear."

Potter, who herself was a victim of rape, and encouraged any student who has been a victim to speak with her, delivered a withering criticism of on-campus justice.

"At Wesleyan we get an email every time someone gets their wallet stolen," Potter said. "We do not get an email when someone reports they are sexually assaulted.  I think Student Judicial Boards for rape are ridiculous.  Rape is a crime.  We should not be adjudicating this on university campuses.  We should not have university professors deciding if a person should get one or two semesters off for assaulting someone, when they should be doing time."

An article in the Wesleyan Argus by members familiar with the rape investigative process at Wesleyan said that there were four reported rapes this year at the university, and all but one had indicated that the rapist was guilty.  The final reported rape, is presumably, one reported by a woman student two weeks prior in the same student newspaper.