Students rally against university's treatment of assault and mental illness cases

12/5/12 6:00pm

Approximately 150 students, masters, administrators and staff members gathered for a sit-in and rally against the university's treatment of mental illness and sexual assault cases on campus. Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson spoke at the sit-in and addressed student questions.

The sit-in, held Dec. 3 in the Academic Quad in front of Lovett Hall, occurred from 3 p.m. to approximately 4:10 p.m. It was organized by Duncan College senior Philomena Bradford, Duncan juniors Elizabeth Casey and Colleen Fugate, Martel College junior Denis Leahy and Duncan senior Drew Moore.

Leahy said the rally's purpose was to launch a public discussion and open collaboration with the administration on how sexual assault and mental illness are handled on campus.

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"It's not just a response to [Olivia Hansen's] case," Leahy said in a personal interview. "We're recognizing a pattern that's been existent for many years."

Fugate said in an interview that another goal of the rally was to urge the administration to seriously reassess its policies dealing with sexual assault and mental health. She cited a lack of resources on campus, little awareness of existing resources and, particularly, the lack of staff members hired to deal specifically with sexual assault cases.

The organizers began the rally by reading various anonymous accounts of experiences with sexual assault, mental illness, the Rice Counseling Center and the administration. Former member of Duncan class of 2014 Mikayla Sweet read an account of her own experience.

Hutchinson then spoke to attendees and said the university is anxious to enter into a dialogue with students about mental illness and sexual assault policies at Rice.

"It pains every one of us [my staff] - I'm in pain right now, and so you have reached me - to think about the difficulties that many of you go through in your times at Rice," Hutchinson said. "We are self-aware enough to know that we can always do better. We can always reassess."

He said the university is committed to constant improvement of mental health and sexual assault programming and resources and cited steps that the university took recently, such as Wellbeing Week, held earlier this semester, and the expansion of the RCC, which included adding social workers to ease students' transition into and out of the hospital. Hutchinson said Rice also hired an external consultant in October to review its mental illness and sexual assault policies and protocol; the review is ongoing, and results are not yet ready for release, he said.

"I say that not to say we have solved all the problems, but to say we are completely in sympathy with all of you in the sense that we need even more resources, even more approaches, even more possibilities for our students to seek out the assistance that they need," Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson said he would like to create a task force formed jointly between students, administrators and staff members. The task force would identify how Rice can improve its resources and provide transparency regarding Rice's processes for handling mental illness and sexual assault cases.

A student asked that Hutchinson apologize. Hutchinson said he shared the pain of those who felt they were mistreated by the university's handling of sexual assault and mental illness, but he would not apologize for university protocol or how any specific cases have been handled.

"I am sufficiently proud of our processes for being so careful and that my staff is so good that in fact, no, I'm not going to apologize [for our protocol] because, in fact, we are extremely careful about the steps that we take," Hutchinson said. "[Regarding individual cases], in every single case there is a long, carefully-considered process. I won't apologize in the sense that we would do it differently. I can share the pain without apologizing for it."

In response to a student who asked Hutchinson to retract a statement from his written response to Hansen's op-ed that said the mental health and sexual assault resources on campus are comparable to other schools, Hutchinson said he stands by the quality of the university's resources. However, he said, the quantity of those resources may not be adequately meeting student needs.

Another student asked that the administration no longer use language such as "disruption to the Rice community," which Sweet said Hutchinson used to refer to her in a letter, to refer to students suffering from mental health issues. Hutchinson said that sometimes with a person suffering from mental illness, the consequences of that illness will manifest in behaviors that substantially impact others.

A student said that as adults, students have the right to take care of those they love if they so choose. Hutchinson then shared a story about a mentally ill student who attended Rice years ago when he was a college master. He said her friends took her food, dressed her and took her notes for a long period of time before they ultimately came to him emotionally and physically drained.

"My reaction was, 'As much as you cared about this student, you should not have even attempted to do that because you don't have the resources,'" Hutchinson said. "In the end we don't have the resources to help a student struggling that badly."

Eric Ristroph (Martel '12) asked why the level of support and resources available for those suffering from physical disabilities at Rice, such as himself, does not exist for those suffering from mental health issues. Hutchinson said the question of what the appropriate level of resources would be for mentally ill or sexually assaulted students on a campus is precisely what needs to be asked. He clarified that the university does not suspend or expel students for having mental health issues.

In response to Will Rice College sophomore Zach Scott's question on why students must sign a waiver giving up their confidentiality rights in order to receive treatment from the RCC, Hutchinson said there is a reason that policy was put in place, but that the task force would explore whether such practices should continue.

"[Your parents] are expecting of us a level of care in which if there are serious problems happening, we need to deal with that," Hutchinson said. "There have certainly been enough tragedies on campuses that it would be desirable for us to intervene before those kinds of things take place. Are there ways we can modify the policy? Are there ways we can protect what you are worried about protecting while also protecting everybody on this campus?"

Ristroph said he was glad Hutchinson spoke at the rally because it shows the administration is listening, but he feels the problem is more serious than the administration has acknowledged it to be.

"They say the RCC is good and everything is fine, but based on what I've [heard from friends], the administration is really dropping the ball on this one," Ristroph said. "I don't know how much [of what Hutchinson said at the rally] was just being politically correct and how much is what he genuinely believes."

Ristroph said three of his friends said they had negative experiences with the RCC.

"It's for their sake and for the sake of everyone else who has suffered that I became involved," Ristroph said.

Scott said he thought the rally was productive and that though he did not agree with everything Hutchinson said, he believes Hutchinson said things much more concisely and in detail than in his written response.

"The biggest thing I want is transparency," Scott said. "With the task force, it seems they might still keep it almost inside, with who's on the task force. Who knows if that's a strategy? That's not for me to say, but in my opinion that leaves a disconnect between the students and the administration."

Brown College master Steve Cox said he thought the rally was helpful for building student solidarity and found the dialogue between Hutchinson and students more helpful than simply a series of personal anonymous stories.

"[Hutchinson] did a good job of defending his policies but didn't pretend that he had the best way," Cox said. "He's not in some kind of reactionary mode. He's been actively seeking student dialogue on mental health issues."

Cox said of the cases he is aware that a student has been withdrawn, he would not consider any one unfair to the student involved and does not have any firsthand knowledge of complaints from students who have been withdrawn. Cox believes the policies are student-minded and generous, but that more transparency may be necessary, he said.

"I'm not saying what was said at the rally was not true and that things don't need to change, but I'm saying from my point of view, I've seen the policies work," Cox said. "Vigilance is necessary, [as well as] review. By vigilance, I mean ongoing discussion. The call to conversation is just what we need."

Leahy said he was pleased with the turnout at the rally.

"It looks positive that the conversation will continue," Leahy said. "I'm hopeful."

The rally organizers created a group called "Rice Students for the Reevaluation of Mental Health & Sexual Assault Policy" to facilitate ongoing communication between students and the administration on the topic.

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