Editor’s note: This letter references sexual assault.
Steven Waisbren '82 graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at swaisbren@hotmail.com.
It has been 44 years since I graduated from Cornell and, with recent events concerning the 2024 alleged assault at Chi Phi, I have been asking myself, “What happened?” Way back in in the late 1970s, I was a founding member and later chair of the campus group entitled Community Against Rape. The focus of this grass-roots organization — which was well-supported by the Cornell administration — was twofold: Prevent sexual assault in and around the campus and remove the stigma from the victims of sexual violence.
We organized many programs to achieve these goals. With funding from the University we brought in speakers to educate students on how to make themselves less vulnerable to this crime. Others worked to break down myths about sexual assault such as a woman ‘was asking for it’ because she dressed in a short skirt. We worked hand in hand with the campus police to teach self defense in the horrible scenario that one were to be attacked. As the representative from CAR, I served on the Campus Police Advisory Council to help coordinate these efforts with law enforcement.
Students from the College of Engineering collaborated with the campus police to design the Blue Light Escort Service. At the time, these were volunteers, always pairs of one male and one female student, wearing recognizable wind breakers carrying walkie talkies to walk students home late at night. We thought it a great idea and it was well-received by the campus community. We liked the symbolism of both a man and woman providing the escorts. This took away the concept that men need to protect women. We also liked the fact that the students wearing the blue windbreakers carrying the walkie talkies could be seen all around campus at night. This fostered both a sense of community amongst us and served as a reminder to be aware of crime on campus. I am proud to say that my graduating class in 1982 chose this program as one of our ‘goodbye’ gifts to the University.
Now, two generations later, I am learning that the administration has treated sexual assault as an educational issue — rather than criminal. All I can do is shake my head.
Let’s hope that the recent publicity of these issues may help reorient the current administration back to one that recognizes sexual assault as a crime to be prevented and where the perpetrators are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
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