An open letter to Marquette regarding its terrible, horrible, no good, very bad sexual assault policy

We’ve blogged about Marquette’s crappy sexual assault policy, the fact that harassment and assault does indeed happen at Marquette, and Marquette’s general fear of ‘teh sex,’ so here is just another reiteration and perhaps a general plea for everyone out there to begin questioning things in regards to sexual assault and violence and to look a little deeper into issues that might not directly involve you, yet remain quite intricately tied to the harmony and wellbeing of the entire student body.

An open letter:

To that elusive “Marquette”—to that “institution,” to that “them” we refer to in heated debates with our friends on issues that matter… but most importantly, to the decision makers, to the individuals working within the mysterious “administration”—(whatever the hell that means).  But also to the students, to the faculty, to the “we” in our chants of “We are Marquette.”  WE are the movers and the shakers and yes YOU have the power to dynamically shape the culture and values of Marquette.  So I pose this question to the administration and to YOU: whoever you are, wherever you are, I ask you this: what will you do to help stop sexual violence?  Specifically, what will you do on Marquette’s campus to help prevent and raise awareness of this worldwide problem?  Will you be silent?  Will you shrug off the need to address these issues?  Will you shriek away from this issue because, heaven forbid, it has the word SEX in it??  “Since sex never occurs outside of marriage and our students are good Catholics and our students do not need to be knowledgeable on issues of birth control and STI prevention, soooooooo let’s just not talk about it.” 

Oh holy institutional Marquette, I reach out and speak to you here.  You can have your institutional morals.  You can have your campus values.  But let’s get one thing straight.  RAPE IS NOT SEX.  Rape is a physically as well as emotionally violent act.  Rape is about control, domination, hurt.  Rape is NOT sex.  So don’t be afraid to talk about it.  It’s an issue.  It’s a problem.  We can be united in working against this problem.  Marquette can take a stance—on social justice, on human dignity, and on a responsibility to its students’ well-being.

Currently in our handbook the policy on this issue is stated under the heading “sexual contact/assault policy.”  Now, someone please explain to me why “sexual contact” needs to be included in a policy designed to reach out to those who have been sexually assaulted to help them find comfort in the fact that Marquette has a coordinated plan and the essential services one needs after such a victimizing event occurs. 

The following is the last statement a student reads before getting into the actual sexual assault policy: “Marquette university, in its commitment to Catholic values, further expects that contact between persons will be a mutually voluntary expression of love taking place within the context of marriage.”  This is a fine statement to have, but not in a sexual assault policy.  What is a young woman to think when she first reads this after she has been sexually assaulted?  Is she to be shamed because her sexual encounter did not happen within the bonds of marriage?  How will Marquette behave towards her, she may wonder.  Has she done something wrong by being raped?  At the very least, in some indirect way, Marquette is using a shaming tactic here that will inevitably reduce reporting of such violent crime.  How does that help the campus attain such worthy values of dignity and respect for all people?  Perhaps we should recall such phrases like, “Women and men for others” or say, “Cura Personalis” when we think about this.  Cura bullshit is what I hear in regards to our current policy.   

I get that Marquette is a Catholic university.  I get that it subscribes to certain Catholic doctrinal values.  I understand that.  Really, I do.  I see its Catholic, Jesuit values permeated everywhere on this campus and rightly so, that’s how the institution chooses to align itself.  And it is not a bad alignment.  I see the worth and importance of organized religion it in its most raw form.  It brings people together in a sacred and loving way.  But organized and doctrinal sentiment sometimes permeates areas it shouldn’t.  This, in turn, causes the true message to be overshadowed.  A “sexual contact” policy has no reason being in a handbook for Marquette students.  “Oh, but it’s a Catholic university upholding Catholic values and beliefs”, you say.  Well, okay then, riddle me this—why isn’t there a section regarding masturbation? Abortion?  Contraception?  Homosexuality? Etc. etc. etc.  Aren’t those issues of concern to Catholic doctrine? Why don’t we just import the whole fucking bible into our conduct policy?!  Well, that’s not going to happen, yet for some reason, sexuality has been singled out and tied up with sexual assault, thus causing great harm to the general student body.  What is the message students are getting from the statements that are provided within their sexual assault policy?  It’s not a good one, and it needs to change.