A mistake is pulling a door that should be pushed or driving the wrong way on a one-way street. Even greater errors of judgment can fit under that category.
But assaulting someone is never a mistake.
Yet, for weeks we’ve been hearing about former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice’s mistake — his altercation with then-fiancée Janay Palmer in an elevator that left her unconscious.
Initially, Rice was punished for his actions with a two-game suspension. That escalated to the Ravens cutting Rice, and an indefinite suspension by the NFL last Monday.
Though the incident attached a high-profile name to relationship violence, the issue transcends the viral reach of the footage of Rice and Palmer in the elevator.
Violence and assault, especially against women, is prevalent in our city and on our campus. But the university’s response to that is in question, as it is one of more than 70 higher education institutions that the U.S. Office of Civil Rights is reviewing for the handling of sexual assault complaints.
In an email to the MSU community earlier this month, President Lou Anna K. Simon outlined plans to ramp up assault assessment and prevention measures and promote campus safety. The University Task Force on Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence, created in 2004, is among the programs that will receive attention.
With guidance from the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, MSU’s Sexual Harassment Policy will be revised. Reporting and investigation practices, disciplinary hearings, education programs and counseling services will be addressed. And under the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, colleges and universities nationwide have greater responsibilities to investigate and report domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.
Beyond those changes, we should continue to provide support to all students who are affected by violence, and increase our efforts.
The Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives has only two employees for all university harassment and discrimination investigations, though Deputy General Counsel Kristine Zayko said more investigators would be hired. To handle current cases and new reports that might result from recent dialogue on the topic, the university needs to be prepared with adequate personnel.
Addressing the incidence of sexual and relationship violence, and all other offshoots of abuse, is not just a campus-wide email that many students leave unread in their inbox. It is not only policy changes or the proclamation of reinvigorated efforts and new task forces.
Proper handling of this chronic issue is constant. It is concerted. It is tireless and intolerant of individuals who defy standards and disobey laws. It pays no mind to race, status or athletic engagement, as that becomes another form of discrimination and can lead to slaps on the wrist portrayed as punishments.
Victims of domestic or relationship violence and sexual assault typically don’t receive attention. They don’t appear with their abusers in viral videos. They’re often apprehensive about speaking out at all. That makes it all the more important for us — from the individual to administrative levels — to pay attention. They may be inconspicuous, but they are mistreated nevertheless. We need to dig up the root causes of this problem and change our culture so that we don’t have to hear about people’s mistakes anymore.
