Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Lynne Walter" <>]

I was told attachments do not go through, and to cut and paste our
response to and suggestions about the situation at Duke University.  So,
here it is.  Please feel free to contact me directly with any questions
or if we can be of assistance.  Thank you!

Lynne Walter, MSW
Prevention Education Coordinator
North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault
183 Wind Chime Court, Suite 100
Raleigh, NC 27615
(919) 870-8881
1-888-737-CASA
(919) 870-8828 (fax)

www.nccasa.org
www.teencasa.org

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Recent events on the Duke University campus have drawn attention to the
widespread problem that is sexual violence.  Communities throughout
North Carolina are reacting with anger and sadness that such a horrible
crime against humanity was committed by individuals who are exalted as
model members of our society.  While anger and sadness are very valid
emotions and reactions to such a horrendous crime, we must look at using
this emotional response as an opportunity to engage our communities in
the movement to end sexual violence.  For, as Elie Wiesel so eloquently
stated: "there may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice,
but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."


ORGANIZING

How do we organize and unite our communities to work towards preventing
violence?  Whenever there is an incidence of rape or sexual assault, we
typically respond by holding vigils, writing letters to the editor, and
conducting interviews with the media.  These are all necessary
components to organizing our society around sexual violence, but what
actions and activities can we engage in that are more sustainable and
will create a community-wide effort to prevent sexual violence?

What we, as a movement, really need to look at is how to successfully
organize in order to end sexual violence.  More often than not, we
respond to a situation once it has already occurred, but we do not do as
much preventative work to end rape and sexual assault.

So, what does it mean to organize to end sexual assault?  There is often
confusion between what it means to mobilize people and what it means to
organize.  When you're mobilizing a community, you get the community
excited and involved in an issue-we often see mobilization immediately
after a horrific sexual assault or rape takes place.  People hold
rallies and vigils, they write letters to the editor, and they may even
volunteer at their local rape crisis center.

But how do we keep our community engaged in these efforts to end sexual
violence in a way that is both sustainable and effective?  By
organizing.  Great! you may be saying, but what does "organizing" mean?

The Shelia Wellstone Institute has adapted materials from Marshall Ganz
of Harvard University that explain eight components that make up
"organizing" (see attached sheet for more details):
1.      Organizers identify, recruit, and develop leadership.
2.      Organizers interweave relationships, understanding, and action
so that each contributes to the other.
3.      Organizers work with people to interpret why they should act to
change their world.
4.      Organizers motivate action.
5.      Organizers help people understand how they can act.
6.      Organizers challenge people to take the responsibility to act.
7.      Organizers work through campaigns.
8.      Organizers build community by developing leadership.

These eight components all contribute to the successfulness,
effectiveness, and sustainability of organizing. In order to carry out
these eight components, there are several necessary skills that we as
advocates must develop.  These skills are:
*       Developing a Message
*       Creating an Action Plan
*       Increasing Allies and Building Coalitions
*       Influencing Decision Makers
*       Voter Engagement and Electoral Organizing
*       Developing Leadership from the Bottom up

These skills are discussed in detail in the Camp Shelia Wellstone Field
Manual, which is available as a resource for check-out from the NCCASA
Resource Center.  Additionally, there will be several opportunities
throughout the summer to attend an actual Camp Shelia Wellstone in
different regions of North Carolina, so stay tuned for further details!

An important aspect of organizing is that it is an on-going, intertwined
effort.  Each aspect of your organizing should reinforce and build off
of your other efforts, as well as strengthen your overall message.
Think: saturation, saturation, saturation!  Don't just wait for April
and National Sexual Assault Awareness Month to create an action
plan-have your efforts be front and center, year-round; therefore,
keeping the movement to end sexual violence in the forefront of your
community's mind.  Several examples of activities that can all be
components of an organizing action plan are listed below:
*       Rallies-silent protests, loud protests, Burmashaves, marches
*       Vigils-candlelight, speakers, Take Back the Night
*       Letters to the editor
*       Radio interviews
*       Public Service Announcements to raise awareness of sexual
violence, how to end it, and resources
*       T.V. news interviews
*       Op-ed pieces
*       Partner with media to educate them about the importance of
survivor-centered news coverage
*       Legislative visits to your local RCC (contact NCCASA for
assistance in setting these up)
*       Voter education and "Get Out The Vote" efforts to elect
candidates who believe in ending sexual violence and other forms of
violence against women
*       Create a speaker's bureau
*       Partner with communities of faith to get them to speak with
their members about ending SV and financially contributing to the
movement

Please contact NCCASA if you would like assistance with brainstorming
about any of these, or other, activities.  


POINTS TO CONSIDER WHEN YOU ARE MOBILIZING, ORGANIZING, AND RESPONDING
TO THE MEDIA

There are many points we must consider and keep in mind when responding
to this instance of rape as we mobilize and organize our communities and
as we respond to the media.

1.)     The high-profile of the Duke Men's Lacrosse team provides us
with an opportunity to create a teachable moment for our communities.
There has been, and will be, a great deal of media attention that
exploits not only this case, but the women who were assaulted, as a way
to garner headlines: sex, violence, race, and the privilege of attending
such a wealthy (and predominately Caucasian) university.  However, this
case also gives us, anti-rape educators and advocates/activists, a
chance to educate the public about rape.  We must use the media to our
advantage (i.e. media interviews, television specials, newspaper
articles, community presentations, and trainings for journalists).  This
topic should be addressed with our communities at large including our
students in middle and high school as well as college.

2.)     It is of the utmost importance that we connect this case to the
societal attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that perpetuate and condone
rape culture. One of these age-old beliefs is that just because a woman
works for an escort service means she should have known that being raped
was inevitable and unavoidable. A behavior that we need to connect to
this case is that of the "bystander" and the great responsibility that
bystanders have in confronting and ending sexual assault: if she was
assaulted by three men, where were the other members of the lacrosse
team and why did they choose not to assist her or respond to what was
happening? The "code of silence" that is often found among athletes,
fraternities, and other organizations, must be addressed. Some questions
to ask include, why is this behavior acceptable? What can we, as
advocates and citizens that care about other human beings who have been
abused, do to break down the "code of silence"?

3.)     Popular culture reinforces the myth that African American women
are purely sexual objects, and, therefore, are not human and ask to be
raped.  As race will continue to be a factor in many conversations about
what happened at Duke University, it is necessary that we are very clear
when we talk to people how, statistically, research has proven that most
rapes are perpetrated by someone of the same race as the survivor.
Because misogynist and racist comments have already begun to saturate
the media, a response from anti-rape and anti-racist activists is
necessary. Acknowledging that the history of our country is filled with
instances of rape and racism is important.  Equally important is
conveying the message that statistics have always, and continue to speak
to, the rare occurrences of false reports of rape.  The U.S. Department
of Justice has reported that false reports of rape are the same as any
other major violent crime-about 2%.

4.)     Another important point that must be built into the larger
conversation is Rape Shield laws. We need to make our communities aware
that if this case proceeds to court, the survivor's past should and can
be protected in the court. However, we also need to be aware of the fact
that the Rape Shield laws, like most statutes that seek to protect
victims, are not applicable to the media; therefore, resulting in a
violation of the survivor's privacy.  We should work with media outlets
to help them enact policies stating they will not publish the names of
survivors of rape.

5.)     Survivors often choose not to report rapes to law enforcement
because they fear revictimization by the criminal legal system and, in
high profile cases such as this one, by the media as well. Therefore,
many survivors never disclose their story to anyone, including their
friends, family, and co-workers, because they are afraid no one will
believe them and they fear they will be blamed for what happened to
them.

6.)     We must also remember that other survivors in our communities
are watching this case play out, and that we, as advocates, need to be
prepared to address possible increases in survivors who call our
hotlines or come to our offices with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  We
also need to be very cognizant that some of the survivors in our
communities could have pending court cases, and the media attention
being paid to the Duke University case could very well discourage other
survivors from participating in their own legal proceedings.  We need to
be prepared in order to respond to the potential increase in requests
for services in order to serve survivors to the best of our
capabilities.

7.)     More often than not, media coverage of rape reinforces the myth
that rape is about sex. This case is an opportunity for us to educate
the media and the public that rape is not about sex-it is about power,
control, and privilege, which all played a role in this rape.  Power,
control, and privilege also play a role in how our communities, not just
an elite university and its administration, respond to rape and sexual
assault.  Rape and sexual assault happen everywhere in our
communities-in our college campuses, our neighborhoods, our places of
worship, our homes-and we all need to take the responsibility for
speaking out about sexual violence and ending it.


The horrible events at Duke University have given us the opportunity to
educate the entire population of North Carolina about sexual violence
and what we can do to prevent it.  Together, we will end sexual
violence!

Lynne Walter, MSW
Prevention Education Coordinator
North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault




WHAT IS ORGANIZING?
(From Camp Shelia Wellstone Field Manual, pg. 7, adapted from Marshall
Ganz, Harvard University (2003).) 

1. Organizers identify, recruit and develop leadership; build community
around leadership; and build power out of community.  They develop the
relationships, understanding, and action that enable people to gain new
understanding of their interests, new resources, and new capacity to use
these resources on behalf of their interests.  Organizers work through
"dialogues" in relationships, interpretation and action carried out as
campaigns.

2. Organizers interweave relationships, understanding and action so that
each contributes to the other.  This results in new networks of
relationships wide and deep enough to provide a foundation for action as
the community mobilizes and deploys its resources on behalf of its
interests-as services or as advocacy.

3. Organizers work with people to interpret why they should act to
change their world (their motivation) and how they can act to change it
(their strategy).

4. Organizers motivate action by deepening people's understanding of who
they are, what they want, and why.

5. Organizers help people understand how they can act by creating
opportunities for them to deliberate about their circumstances,
reinterpret them in ways that open up new opportunities, and strategize
to make creative use of their resources.

6. Organizers challenge people to take the responsibility to act.
Empowerment for a person begins with taking responsibility.  Empowerment
for an organization begins with commitment: the responsibility its
members take for it.  Responsibility begins with choosing to act.

7. Organizers work through campaigns.  Campaigns are highly energized,
intensely focused, concentrated streams of activity with specific goals
and deadlines.  People are recruited, programs are launched, battles
fought and organizations built through campaigns.

8. Organizers build community by developing leadership.  They develop
leaders by enhancing their skills, values and commitments.  They build
strong communities through which people gain new understanding of their
interests as well as the power to act on them.  They work to develop
relationships between a constituency and its leaders based on mutual
responsibility and accountability.