From a screaming crowd on the steps of the Duke Chapel to intimate discussion circles in McClendon Tower, members of the Duke community gathered Wednesday to protest recent reports of sexual assault on campus and address the violence-related issues they see threatening the University.
Nearly 100 students, faculty members and administrators convened in front of the Chapel Wednesday afternoon for a "scream-in" protest--or what freshman organizer Alessandra Colaianni called a "visible and audible" manifestation of "the sickening problem" of sexual assault.
"These are the screams of women who are being sexually assaulted," Colaianni shouted to the crowd, tears streaming down her face. "These are screams of anger at the pervasiveness of rape and violence towards women at Duke. These are the screams you do not hear often enough."
Bearing white arm bands and waving signs, the protesters screamed for five minutes as passer-bys stopped to stare and curious students peered out classroom windows.
It was exactly the effect protester Ilana Jacobs had hoped for.
"I just want to raise awareness among [people] to tell them this [issue] is something important to us," said Jacobs, a freshman. "I want to let them know this is important to me.... I walk alone, I jog alone and in a community as small as Duke, more should be put into protecting students."
Many students at the protest expressed anger that there was a four-day lapse between Friday night when the first assault occurred and Tuesday afternoon when the administration sent a mass e-mail to the Duke community reporting the assaults. In response to this complaint, University administrators and Duke University Police Department officials defended and explained their actions to students during back-to-back discussion forums Wednesday night.
"We did not want to put out incorrect information," said Clarence Birkhead, chief of DUPD. "We wanted to make sure we had all the details."
Sophomore Garver Moore criticized this explanation, arguing that students should have been notified immediately.
"When there is a horrendously violent crime, it seems like that places me in imminent danger," Moore said. "I want to know 10 minutes after it happens that there is a violent person walking around."
Moore and other students said they were angry and confused when they first heard about the assaults from media outlets or phone calls from concerned family members rather than the University. Additionally, several argued that reporting the Friday assault may have heightened awareness and helped prevent the second one that occurred Sunday morning.
Vice President of Student Affairs Larry Moneta--while stressing the need to verify the accuracy of information before its release--admitted that the administration and police should have been first to inform the Duke community about the assaults .
"Candidly, we probably could have gotten it out much sooner," Moneta said. "I think probably by Sunday we should have had it out."
Moneta said his office is planning to revamp its communication system in light of recent criticism.
"One of the mistakes that we made was relying on past practice...to notify the media first because that's the way we got the word out [to everyone]," he said. "I think a decision that we've made today is that we're no longer going to let the media know something that the community doesn't know first."
Moneta also explained that a series of technology failures prolonged the time it took for the e-mail to reach its recipients by almost a day. He initially sent the message Monday afternoon, but its delivery was "somehow interrupted."
"It wasn't discovered until Tuesday morning that it didn't go out," Moneta said. "[The Office of Information Technology] responded, fixed it and the e-mail was sent out Tuesday... but unfortunately the server then crashed."
Frustrations about security also permeated the discussions. Police officials offered explanations of the various security services available to students, and students countered them with complaints about failures to publicize these services and establish them as a trusted presence on campus.
Her voice hoarse from the scream-in, Colaianni suggested that the University create a peer safe-escort service in addition to the current Safe Rides program. Moneta called the idea "fabulous" but said there was not enough "student energy" to implement it.
Junior Ryan Kennedy complimented Birkhead and the DUPD for recently initiating Operation Silent Night, which has placed watches at each campus entrance. He proposed, however, that it ought to utilize trained security professionals instead of University staff members as it does now.
Birkhead was quick to respond, both in defense of the staff watches and in support of Kennedy's proposal.
"The employees who are involved in Silent Night are as dedicated as me and my staff," he said. "That was a quick, easy and immediate short-term solution... but we hope to transition to a permanent staff."
Other student demands included better lighting on pathways, more police foot patrols and more ID checks at social functions and in University buildings. DUPD Officer Anthony Rush, however, pointed out that increasing campus security involves a community effort. He stressed the need for students to call if they see suspicious persons on campus and to take responsibility for their personal security precautions, such as locking doors and buddying-up before going anywhere at night.
"We have to do this together," he said. "The police can't do it all and the students can't do it all."
Moneta also discussed long-term plans to increase University safety, including installing card-swipes on bathroom doors and creating "major public corridors" between the disparate areas of campus. He also told the group, however, that no matter what initiatives students or administrators take, eradicating campus crime is impossible.
"No matter what we do, if people are determined to do harm they will do harm," he said. "If people are looking for zero incidents, I can't give it to them, though I wish I could."
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