Reflection: "The Hunting Ground" Screened at W&M
Two Sundays ago I had the honor of sharing Andrews 101 with more than 200 administrators, students, and staff for a screening of The Hunting Ground as William and Mary became the first school to screen this compelling, bold, and unprecedented expose of sexual assault on the college campus.
I was struck most by the thorough and unapologetic nature of the film. Never before has a film so fully implicated, targeted, and shone a spotlight on college complicity in sexual assault. The backlash will be strong -- it has already begun -- and I am curious to observe the waves and changes The Hunting Ground inspires in the coming months.
The film's debut at William and Mary gave me an incredible amount of fodder for reflection. The screening was coupled with a daylong visit from the film's two protagonists -- Annie Clark and Andrea Pino -- two UNC graduates who are partners in activism and have been touring the country to promote the film. I spent the morning and early afternoon with them as they enjoyed breakfast, visited the campus, and spoke in a roundtable setting with other undergraduate advocates.
Annie and Andrea are fiery, kind, approachable, and wholly genuine. They carry themselves without a hint of pretension and are instantly relatable. Our conversations ranged from dog breeds to the absurdity of campus blue lights as a form of protection against rape to watermelon flavored candy.
During the conversation, Andrea stressed the importance of deterrence, arguing that college students often assault and rape without fear of any punishment. While she acknowledged that punishment is not the only solution, she pointed out the laughable extent to which we have instilled a culture of fear for offenders and the disturbing results -- under-reporting, victim-blaming, mistreatment under the law, social shaming, retaliation, etc. -- that form the foundation of our rape culture.
Annie had tons to share as well. She was insistent that students have fair and easy access to knowledge of their rights under the law -- specifically as they relate to Title IX and the Clery Act. She cited dozens of examples of times when college administrators have been able to cash in on survivor ignorance during the reporting and adjudication process.
Later in the day, after the film screening, Annie and Andrea joined the full house for a Q&A in which they disappointingly fielded more thinly veiled comments and suggestions from administrators who seemed eager to communicate William and Mary's innocence and sacrificed students singular moment to express themselves to seasoned advocates.
First, Dean Gilbert wanted to know what campuses are doing "right" by this issue (answer: No one is doing everything right. Everyone has a problem.). Kiersten Boyce inquired about UNC's new Title IX coordinator (who has already left his role for Duke University after less than a year on the job). Then, Chief Cheesebro hopped on the mic to tell the audience: “We will do everything humanly possible to prevent this from happening to you, and we will be there with you if it does every step of the way,”. All fair, all valid, some kind, but a flatly terrible venue. These administrators have all day, every day to communicate -- and more importantly, act on -- their claim that they stand with survivors. They chose precious moments of time to comment more than they inquired and ultimately left time for two students to speak up. One student asked about when the generl public would get access to campus climate data on sexual assaults at William & Mary (girl, preach). And the next student, a personal hero of mine, directly followed the Police Chief's comments by discussing a night in which she accompanied someone to report an experience at the W&M Police and was met with laughter and jokes. “After what happened, I could never, ever, responsibly tell a survivor to go to the William and Mary police department after what I witnessed", she said. Though Andrea and Annie stayed for over 30 more minutes to talk with individual students, the Q&A ended there.
I hope the coming months see W&M respond to The Hunting Ground's clear call to action with integrity. I hope the public sees data soon. I hope W&M admits that we have a problem. I hope I leave this school in two months proud of my role as a member of a Student Affairs department that has turned this issue spotlight into measurable change and effort.
