Week 12 Day 2 Discussion Question 5

Brock Turner’s crime took place on the Stanford University campus, where administrators were already under scrutiny for their handling of campus sexual assault. As Emily Bazelon wrote in 2014:

From 2005 to 2011, nine students were found responsible for sexual assault. One student was expelled, for violations involving multiple victims. The other eight received suspensions ranging from one quarter to eight quarters. The average sanction for sexual assault at Stanford is a four-quarter suspension. (Stanford confirmed those numbers.) And it’s definitely not just Stanford: In a yearlong investigation published in 2010, the Center for Public Integrity found that across the country, “students found ‘responsible’ for sexual assaults on campus often face little or no punishment from school judicial systems, while their victims’ lives are frequently turned upside down.”

Emily Bazelon, “Suspension Isn’t Enough,” Slate, June 2014.

How has reading about Chanel Miller’s story resonated for you as a student on the Middlebury College campus? What work does Middlebury have to do to better combat sexual assault and support survivors?

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