Letters to the Editor

SHARE cutbacks will quiet rape, harassment victims

I am deeply dismayed by the planned cutbacks in Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising, Resources and Education; it makes a parody out of the administration's token support of events such as the Take Back the Night march. Even with current levels of funding, there are inadequate resources on campus to help women who have been sexually assaulted or to educate students about appropriate behavior. Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson recently stated that the administration is cutting back the only program that addresses these needs, when just weeks before, the 'Prince' published articles discussing the record growth of Princeton's endowment. I believe that Dickerson is ridiculing and denying the presence of sexual assault on campus.

Princeton's administration does not want to admit that there is a problem here and seems to be hoping that by not addressing it, it will go away. This is a blatant falsehood; several of my friends have been date-raped while at Princeton. Speaking with women around campus, I realize that this is not an uncommon story. Yet when a friend of mine went to see a dean in hopes of pressing charges in regard to a date rape, the dean suggested my friend read a book on anger management. She said nothing about changing the guy's behavior or even addressing it. Instead, she simply wanted the girl to be quiet about the rape.

As a woman, I feel I am too often told to be quiet about anything that reflects poorly upon Princeton, and cutting the SHARE funding is just another way of reinforcing that silence. Jennifer Ralph '01