Sexual Respect Statements to the Community

Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013

Dear Members of the Amherst Community,

This past October, in response to reports of sexual assault, Amherst College formed the Special Oversight Committee on Sexual Misconduct. The committee, chaired by Professor Margaret Hunt and composed of students, faculty, staff, and trustees, was charged with providing a report that reviewed policies and made specific recommendations aimed at improving our capacity to prevent and address incidents of sexual misconduct. Given the urgency of the matter, the committee was asked to prepare the report for presentation to me and then to the Board of Trustees at the January meeting that just concluded.

October 20, 2012

To the Members of the Amherst College Community:

Amherst College is confronting one of the most serious challenges facing colleges and universities across the country—sexual misconduct and assault.  In the way that it responds to these issues, the College is committed to holding itself accountable to the highest possible standard.

January 30, 2013

In October 2012, President Biddy Martin, with the support of the Board of Trustees, empaneled a special committee to make recommendations for improvements in the College’s efforts to prevent and address sexual assault and sexual misconduct at Amherst College. This action was taken following the emergence of disturbing accounts of cases of sexual assault and misconduct. At its meeting in October, the Board heard firsthand from many members of the Amherst community, including a delegation of students. The urgency of the issue was plain.

November 6, 2012

An open letter to the Amherst Community:

I write to you today with an enormous sense of sorrow. Yesterday, a website for the Good Men Project posted a suicide note written by a former Amherst student, Trey Malone, who took his own life in June 2012. Trey's death is a tragedy. My deepest sympathies are with his family members and friends, who have suffered the most painful imaginable loss.

October 31, 2012

Dear Amherst Community,
 
I write to announce the formation of the new Special Oversight Committee on Sexual Misconduct. I have charged this committee with making recommendations for improvements in Amherst’s efforts to prevent and address sexual misconduct on campus and beyond.

I am grateful to all members of this new committee, whose names are listed below, and I am particularly grateful to Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies Margaret Hunt, who has graciously agreed to chair the committee.

October 18, 2012

Dear Members of the Amherst Community,

I write in response to the recent news about an incident of sexual violence and misconduct on the Amherst campus and to reports that the College has failed to treat similar incidents with adequate transparency or seriousness. A student’s first-person account in this week’s Amherst Student is horrifying—her rape, her painful efforts to deal with it on her own, and her subsequent experiences when she sought help on the campus.

October 11, 2012

Dear Amherst students,

I write to you concerning a matter that affects our entire community and for which we are all responsible, in one way or another. This message includes both information and an invitation. I know you are busy, but the issues are important. I hope you will take the time to read it.

Go to 20:18 in the video of President Martin’s 2012 Convocation Address to hear her discuss sexual respect and relationships, or read the passage in the transcript.