october 10, 2013 | Vol. 112 no. 5 | middleburycampus.com Drugs Seized in Mail Center Bust By Kyle Finck - - - - - - - - at the time shed light on the situ- - KYLE FINCK - - - By Mitchell Perry - - pus talked to would speak on the - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - we heated the system up, how we - - - - - - - - - “[The biomass plant] seems like - - - SEE BIOMASS, PAGE 3 ANGELIQUE KIDJO ROCKS NELSON ARENA Liquor Violations Rise Substantially By Caroline Agsten - - - - - - - - - - - Brett Simison - SEE PUBLIC SAFETY, PAGE 4 WEYBRIDGE COMBAT THE COMPLETE KIDJO AHEAD ON SOPHOMORE SLUMP COVERAGE VT ENERGY PAGE 13 PAGE 15 CHALLENGE PAGE 5 inside 2NEWS | october 10, 2013 SAOC Introduces Peer Advocates BEYOND By Eliza Teach staff members in these offices, all other tion had been taken to hire a full-time ad- Eleven students, two staff members, faculty members are not bound by con- vocate or to create an advocacy program.” THE and one faculty member are in the midst fidentiality, and are required to respond Morse’s vision has come to fruition this of completing their 20 hours of training to to any incidents that constitute gender- semester. The team has almost completed become peer advocates in a pilot program based discrimination, sexual harassment, the twenty-hour minimum training re- BUBBLE within the College’s Sexual Advocacy or sexual assault. quired by Vermont statue 1614 to become BY DANNY ZHANG Oversight Committee (SAOC). The advo- According to Guttentag, Title IX ini- a confidential rape crisis resource. cacy program marks a great leap forward tially carried the intent of ensuring col- The College redesigned the job descrip- for the SAOC, which as been working to- leges and universities responded appro- tion for the Director of Health and Well- wards the formation of this group since priately to incidents of on-campus sexual ness Education in order to bring someone 2008. assault and were not brushing these cases who could bring the skill set necessary to While Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s “The decision to form this group came under the rug. However, the transparency head this advocacy program. Barbara Mc- use of chemical weapons in August shocked mandated by Title IX has translated into Call was hired to the position in June, and the world and provoked outrage of various from student concern, and the fact that a perceived lack of confidentiality sur- when McCall assumed her position this degrees from Western powers, an overlooked students needs are not being met on rounding the incidents. As a result, the le- school year, the advocates were ready to consequence of the 30-month long civil war this campus,” said Kristina Johansson has been the refugee crisis that has spilled ’14, a participant in the peer advocacy gally mandated college policies appear to train. over into Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, and program.“We are really putting pressure disincentivize students to divulge cases of McCall said the twenty-hour train- even Egypt, with whom Syria does not share on the administration to make more sexual assault to College administrators. ing involved talks from public safety and a border. steps.” “There is a tension there between community groups such as Women’s Safe, Approximately two million Syrian refu- A Sexual Assault Policy Working Group what our obligations are to the law and among other training activities. gees are registered as such in those countries, Report put forth in the 2005-2006 school the good spirit behind it, and recognizing “Some of the [training] components but the true number of displaced persons year by a group headed by Dean of Aca- a critical aspect of helping survivors to include digging deeper into what is sexual could be much higher, especially in Jordan, demic Affairs Tim Spears, then serving as find their balance again — which involves violence, why does it happen, what sort of where hundreds of thousands more Syrians Dean of the College, was responsible for honoring their wishes, letting them de- cultural components support it, and what are thought to have crossed the border ille- the formation of the SAOC, the umbrella fine what their needs are, and supporting does it specifically look like on a college gally. organization within which the new peer them to make their own choices and deci- campus?” McCall said. Many Jordanians are becoming increas- advocacy group will operate. sions about the course of action they want Johansson stressed the need for the The recommendations put forth by the to take,” Guttentag said. advocates to know more country. A country of 6 million, Jordan has ’05-’06 working group led to the forma- “That may not be charg- “The decision to than just the policies. absorbed at least 600,000 displaced Syrians, tion of the 2007-2008 Task Force on the ing in and launching an form this group “I hope we can delve if not many more. The Jordanian Minister Status of Women, which released a report investigation.” more into the complexities for Planning and International Cooperation in March 2008 in which the members Student organizers re- came from student of rape culture, and also compared the situation to the United States expressed the need for an advocacy pro- sponsible for the newly- concern, and the the psychological responses having to take in the entire population of gram. formed peer advocacy such as PTSD and anxiety,” Canada. There was also a large student protest group hope that it will fact that students Johansson said. “There is in 2008, in which students called upon serve as solution that will a wide array of response to - needs are not the administration to proactively address balance students’ needs [sexual violence] that we mographic balance in the country. Jordan’s sexual assault on campus. to have access to critical being met on this should have a knowledge of - President of the College Ronald D. information and support, before we start answering cant concessions during the early months of campus.” while still allowing them phones and giving support.” the Arab Spring, and many government of- Leibowitz officially sanctioned the SAOC to maintain control over While the training for in the fall of 2008, and in the winter of the pace and direction the advocates has begun, refugee crisis could threaten the country po- 2009, the SAOC launched a broad assess- Kristina Johansson ’14 litically, economically, and socially. ment of the needs and resources within that any outcome or any the logistics of the pro- Jordan has had a history of receiving refu- the student body. resulting actions would take. grams operations are still nebulous. gees from its neighbors in that tumultuous According to Associate Dean for Judi- According to Sophie Morse ’11, who “One of the big exciting questions we region. In the twenty years after the parti- cial Affairs and Student Life Karen Gut- was active in the SAOC up until her senior are getting to answer is ‘what is this go- tion of the Palestinian territories, millions of tentag, the SAOC’s assessment found that year, gathering widespread support for ing to look like? Will it be a hotline or soft students who had experienced sexually the formation of a peer advocacy group line? What are the other ways folks can settled in the country permanently and have distressing events were underutilizing the was not easy. access the group?’” McCall said. been given full citizenship rights. Today, just confidential resources available at the “We felt that the College needed ad- The advocates have talked about the under 2 million Palestinian refugees living in College. vocates, and I wanted to create a program possibility of holding office hours in ad- Jordan are UN-registered. Title IX, the law that mandates gender where we had a combination of staff, fac- dition to a hotline or a soft line. There is What’s more, the hundreds of thousands non-discrimination, also mandates edu- ulty and student advocates in order to also continuing debate over the confiden- of refugees who came in through Jordan’s cational institutes to report incidences of provide survivors with different options,” tiality issue as to whether the advocates northeast border with Iraq in the last two de- sexual violence, except when the victim Morse wrote in an email. “Some of the will have to report if a victim appears to cades remain in the country, and thousands chooses to disclose the incident to medi- members agreed with me, and we draft- present danger to herself or himself. - cal or religious professionals. ed a proposal but we didn’t have the full Alexandra Strott ’15, another student ing skirmishes with Israel over the last few Confidential resources available to stu- support of the committee and the college advocate, believes more student partici- decades have also sought Jordan as a refuge. dents on campus include the counseling lawyers raised the issue of granting confi- pation is necessary