This week has been devastating. It has left us with tears in our eyes and pits in our stomachs. It has been almost unbearable to watch.
In case you missed it, on Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018, the U.S. Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh, a man who has been accused of sexually assaulting at least three women, to be the next Supreme Court Justice. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a St. Lawrence University alumna of the class of 1975, announced on Oct. 5, that she would vote yes to confirm Brett Kavanaugh.
According to the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) website, every 98 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted. Additionally, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) website indicates that “in the U.S., one in three women and one in six men experience some form of contact sexual violence in their lifetime.” Also, according to NSVRC the percentage of false reports of sexual assault is between 2 and 10 percent. If you have the boldness to not believe survivors already, these statistics should make up your mind.
St. Lawrence’s Advocates Program is a unique, confidential, student-run organization which advocates for awareness regarding sexual assault, intimate partner violence and stalking on this campus. We have a 24-hour confidential hot-line along with an online chat feature on our website that survivors may use to contact us. Our mission is to believe survivors and provide them with emotional support and resources.
We support survivors through the investigation process and even accompany them to the hospital for rape exams. We receive over 18 hours of training to become an Advocate, and some of us are certified Rape Crisis Counselors in New York State. This includes 30 additional hours of training.
Institutions across the country reach out to SLU’s Advocates Program for advice on how to create their own advocates program as well as how to use our program as a model. St. Lawrence is a trailblazer in the fight against campus sexual assault. As a program that so fiercely fights for survivor’s voices to be heard and believed, Sen. Collins has failed us.
In an interview with CNN on Saturday, Sen. Collins said, “I do not believe that Brett Kavanaugh was [Dr. Ford’s] assailant…I do believe that she was assaulted. I don’t know by whom and I’m not certain when.” The message here is simple: Susan Collins does not believe survivors. It is not fair for her to say that she believes survivors and then belittle and disregard their stories in the same breath.
Susan Collins, it is degrading and disrespectful to say that you believe Dr. Ford was assaulted and, yet, are willing to confirm her assailant to the Supreme Court. Maybe in her mind this is some convoluted way to represent ‘fairness,’ but no justice has been served.
While Sen. Collins is on television for interviews with CNN and “60 Minutes,” the St. Lawrence Advocates are holding the 24-hour hotline phone. The influx in calls and messages in the wake of Sen. Collins’ vote and the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh is overwhelming. People are struggling with how to proceed when the news is a constant trigger to survivors everywhere. Sen. Collins, do you have anything to say to them?
During her 60 Minutes interview, Sen. Collins said that while she found Dr. Ford’s testimony compelling, she “felt that the judge gave a very compelling denial.” She stated that “after reading all the FBI reports plus the sworn statements, not only was there no corroboration, it was the opposite. None of them had any recollection of any such night.”
It becomes crystal clear that Collins does not believe her. Just say it. Do not hide behind a curtain of false belief. Instead of believing the sexual assault survivor, who has a PhD in Psychology, and has passed a lie detector test, Sen. Collins chose to side with an accused assailant who did not take a polygraph and had a violent meltdown during his testimony.
In her speech on Friday, all we saw was a senator tailoring her decision to and sitting comfortably in the pocket of the president; the same president who has repeatedly mocked and disparaged survivors and even faces his own accusations of sexual assault. What we see is a senator who turned her back to survivors across the country, with all eyes on her, to push forward a political agenda.
She deserted her fellow Laurentians, her fellow women, and her fellow United States citizens, to confirm an unfit judge to the Supreme Court.
There are plenty of other conservative judges. The Senate had an opportunity to demonstrate that they believed survivors and that they would not feed in to the constant normalization of rape culture that is plaguing this country. They could have found someone else. But instead, politics were more important than the people of this country, the survivors who have always been silenced, and those who are supporting them.
We demand a response from Sen. Susan Collins. The Advocates are devastated and disappointed by her actions and require an explanation as to how she could turn her back on survivors. She must answer to the Advocates of St. Lawrence, who are protecting and advocating for the past, present and future survivors of her alma mater.
Collins’ actions this week are an egregious representation of how St. Lawrence University and the Advocates Program handle sexual assault on this campus. Her words and ‘yes’ vote are a slap in the face to the survivors and Advocates in the Laurentian community, let alone the rest of the country.
Susan Collins, the Advocates Program is anxiously awaiting your response.
The Advocates hotline (315-244-5466) and chat feature (www.stlawu.edu/advocates) are confidential resources, available 24 hours a day, should anyone need a voice that will always listen and believe them.
We believe you, we are here for you, and we support you.