Middlebury College Student Names Over 30 Alleged Abusers in Facebook Post

On December 12, 2017, Middlebury College student Elizabeth Dunn posted a controversial “List of Men to Avoid” on their personal Facebook page. The list named over 30 males on Middlebury’s campus who Dunn identified as either rapists, serial rapists, sexual harassers, sexual abusers, emotionally manipulative, fetishistic, and/or physically violent.

In addition to naming their own rapist, Dunn outed the abusers of 30 to 40 other individuals, according to The Middlebury Campus, the student newspaper.

Within a mere 48 hours, the post was removed by the social media site, but the ramifications were far from over. Screenshots circulated not only on the small campus, located in rural Vermont, but on the phones and Facebook pages of Middlebury alumni nationwide.

Dunn has come under massive fire for their self-assigned role as unmasker of the alleged assaulters. Administrators at the college have made repeated attempts to force Dunn to reveal their sources, stating that their refusal to be forthcoming with them is in direct violation of Title IX.

In a statement made to The Middlebury Campus, Bill Burger, the college’s spokesperson, stated, “Students are required to cooperate with conduct investigations once they have been identified, by themselves or others, as having relevant information.”

Due to their refusal to reveal the names of sources, Middlebury College is threatening Dunn with punitive measures, including possible expulsion and/or an official college discipline, which includes an official note in her file. However, students at Middlebury have not been acquiescent to the possibility of punishment for Dunn.

As Maggie Rose-McCandlish, a senior at Middlebury, states, “Liz was offering to name perpetrators for people anonymously to give other survivors a voice while shielding them from further violence, and they are being punished for this more than most perpetrators are punished for actually committing the violence.”

Students at St. Lawrence are also enraged by Middlebury’s response. Gabe Warner ’18 says, “The failure of the university institution to challenge the broader institution of sexual violence is the exact opposite of what a learning facility is meant to do. Universities are the brain factories that allow for change and growth. Now is the time to challenge the notion that assaulters can continue to be safe and exist as they are.”

According to Max Shashoua, another senior at Middlebury, a petition has been circulating online to protect Dunn from official college discipline.

Beyond the Green, a student-run publication focused on publishing the voices of students who are not heard on Middlebury’s campus, has also released a statement regarding the post. “We all want to create a community in which individuals are not afraid to exist. Punishing Liz and survivors rather than working towards healing is an attack on this shared vision.” 

The post has also elicited a response from Middlebury College in the form of an email, which was sent out campus-wide on December 14, 2017.

According to the email, flyers were also distributed around campus with the same information found in Dunn’s post. The email reiterated Middlebury’s strict prohibition of sexual misconduct, domestic and dating violence, and it also encouraged students to report any violations of the policy to the university.

The post has rocked the liberal arts campus of Middlebury, which bears a striking resemblance to St. Lawrence. Both universities have an enrollment number of fewer than 3,000 undergraduate students, and both are situated in largely rural areas. Moreover, both campuses are made up of a primarily white, middle- and upper-class student base.

Students on Middlebury’s campus have found the post shocking, even given the recent spike in public outings of serial sexual assaulters and abusers across social media platforms. As Shashoua emphasizes, “It is definitely jarring to read a friend’s name on the list.”

Some students have questioned the validity of the accusations made by Dunn, especially given their refusal to name their sources. Dunn, however, emphasizes that their reluctance to divulge accusers’ names is out of a desire to protect them—they promised not to expose the individuals who confided in them, and they intend to keep that promise.