U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H. listens to discussion during a round table with students, teachers, sexual assault counselors, and women's advocates at WISE in Lebanon, N.H. Monday, June 27, 2016. Inspired by the statement of "Emily Doe," who was sexually assaulted at Stanford in 2015, Kuster spoke on the floor of the House last Thursday of her own experiences of being assaulted as a Dartmouth College student and a young Congressional staffer. "I'm not telling these stories because they are remarkable or unique," she said. "I'm telling them because they are all too common." (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H. listens to discussion during a round table with students, teachers, sexual assault counselors, and women's advocates at WISE in Lebanon, N.H. Monday, June 27, 2016. Inspired by the statement of "Emily Doe," who was sexually assaulted at Stanford in 2015, Kuster spoke on the floor of the House last Thursday of her own experiences of being assaulted as a Dartmouth College student and a young Congressional staffer. "I'm not telling these stories because they are remarkable or unique," she said. "I'm telling them because they are all too common." (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Concord — When new students step onto the Keene State College campus for freshman orientation, a frank discussion about sexual assault follows.

Every student must watch a show called No Zebras, No Excuses, a set of several skits acted out by fellow students that address issues including what constitutes sexual assault and harassment, whether it’s taking advantage of someone who has had too much to drink at a party, disregarding a firm “no,” or harassing other students who are gay or transgender.

 

 

In the wake of several high-profile sexual assaults on campuses including Stanford, New York University and Florida State University, administrators and sexual violence prevention advocates from across New Hampshire convened at a roundtable hosted by U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster on Tuesday to discuss strategies and solutions.

Kuster hosted the meeting at the University of New Hampshire School of Law in Concord about a month after publicly revealing three separate sexual assaults she experienced as a young woman; one as a student at Dartmouth College, and two more as a young staffer on Capitol Hill — where she was groped by a guest of the congressional office she worked for and getting attacked and mugged on the walk home from a restaurant.

Kuster had stayed silent about her experiences for 40 years and decided to speak out after hearing about the case of Emily Doe, the victim of Stanford student Brock Turner, who wrote extensively about her own experience.

“I realized that this is what people are carrying through their lives,” Kuster said. “Going about school, going about work, raising their families. There’s nothing remarkable about my story.”

 

 

 

Advocates talked about the complex nature of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits any school that receives federal money from discriminating on the basis of sex.

While the federal law is very important, it also can create some barriers to getting sexual assault victims the kind of support they need, said Amy Culp, director of the University of New Hampshire’s nationally recognized Sexual Harassment & Rape Prevention Program, also known as SHARPP.

Kulp said that she’s seen school officials so swept up in making sure they are following the letter of the law and avoiding the risk of fines that it feels at times like an interrogation of the victim, rather than a conversation about the incident that takes place in a safe space.

“It’s less about the survivor and what the survivor needs,” added Lisa Ciccotelli, direct services coordinator at SHARPP. “They still want to move on with their lives, they still want to go to class, they still want to go to their athletics, they still want a social life.”

Roundtable participants said it’s crucial to connect students with local crisis centers if they need it — but that can be an issue for some of the smaller colleges located in remote parts of the state.