Editorial

On the HSMB Report

By Editorial Staff

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This week, the Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Board (HSMB) released its annual report for 2015-16. The report, unfortunately, left the Hamilton community with questions and frustrations, rather than answers, best exemplified by the signs that now hang from the bridge over Martin’s Way. The following editorial addresses the issue as the majority of The Spectator staff views it, with the understanding that constrained space necessitates an abbreviated response. 

First, there must be better definitions of the penalties for sexual assault and misconduct, and more transparent enforcement. Part of the reason the Hamilton community is uneasy with the results released in the recent HSMB report is due to the fact that definitions of violations feel really fuzzy. It seems challenging to justify giving a student guilty of “sexual harassment” six points while another found guilty of “non-consensual sexual contact” was given only two. While we understand that these decisions are made on a private and case-to-case basis, we are nonetheless concerned by the apparent inconsistency in the HSMB’s verdicts. 

Second, it is clear that students found guilty of sexual misconduct of any kind need to face much stricter penalties for these infractions. Hamilton students should be concerned that, according to our points policy, failure to leave the building during a fire alarm makes a student eligible to receive three points, while infringing upon another student’s right to feel safe in their environment may not be punished as stringently. In fact, it seems that under the current policy, it may be possible for a perpetrator, such as the “student [who] was found responsible for non-consensual sexual contact and received two disciplinary points,” to become a repeat offender and still face no material consequences. The College should be ashamed. 

Finally, though the majority of current conversation is—understandably— directed towards improving the policy for handling sexual misconduct once it has occurred, The Spectator recommends that a more proactive, preventative approach to this campus- and nation-wide issue be more earnestly considered. There needs to be more education and especially more specific trainings for students, faculty and staff, that treat the issue with the respect and gravity it warrants. 

We as a community need to find a way to incite an enormous shift in perceptions surrounding rape culture on campus. Let’s continue the discussion in pursuit of both administrative and social change. 

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