The Official Campus Newspaper of Swarthmore College Since 1881 VOL. 136, ISSUE 11
Sexual Assault at Swarthmore: A Bigger Problem Than It Seems
The Phoenix THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012
NYS Becomes Active Group on Campus
By ANNA GONZALES News Writer
TODAY: Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. High 49, Low 33. TOMORROW: Mostly sunny, 10% chance of rain. High 52, Low 33.
SWARTHMOREPHOENIX.COM
Swarthmore’s Financial Aid: Questioned By Some Students By DANIEL BLOCK News Writer
Trigger Warning: This article deals with accounts of sexual assault and may be triggering to readers.
A Swarthmore college education is expensive. Between tuition, personal expenses, books, fees, and room and board, the price between 2012 and 2013 comes out to be $58,090. It is far more than the average cost at a four-year institution in the United States. It is even more than the average American’s salary. In order to make its educational experience affordable, Swarthmore, like most other colleges and universities, offers financial aid. Indeed, Swarthmore will go out of its way to make prospective applicants aware of its financial aid policy. On the admissions and financial aid portion of its website, the college highlights that it is need-blind for U.S citizens and permanent residents when considering admissions, that it offers aid to 100% of those who demonstrate need and that it has eliminated loans from aid awards so as to “enable students to graduate debt-free.” This is touted in college guides and by admissions officers in information sessions. According to the Princeton Review and USA Today’s 2012 guide, Swarthmore is the second best valued private college in the nation. Previously, it has been ranked first. But for a school that is supposedly among the most generous in the United States, there are plenty of aid recipients who are not satisfied with what they received, or with the way the financial aid office handled their situations. In spite of the fact that the school no longer officially incorporates loans into aid packages, plenty of students still take out loans, and the office maintains a loans coordinator. All of this begs the question, just how generous is Swarthmore College’s financial aid?
Following Angie Epifano’s account of rape in the Amherst College student newspaper, Swarthmore survivors have claimed that the college’s handling of sexual assaults mirrors Amherst’s horrific mistreatment of Epifano. Administrators and counseling sources say that in the past year and a half there have been major changes in the ways in which the college deals with allegations of sexual assault and that the current process reflects these changes. Two current students, survivors of sexual assault perpetrated on Swarthmore’s campus, described their experiences of seeking support from confidential counseling services or from administrators as retraumatizing. At every step of the process, both survivors were endlessly questioned as to the legitimacy of their rapes, discouraged from reporting their assailants, and blamed for their assaults. One survivor (Student 1), a current senior who was raped during her freshman year, said that the assault was so diminished by her friends and Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) staff, and that she was so heavily discouraged from reporting her rapist, that she never even made it to the administration. She was warned that her attempt to bring her rapist to justice would be a drawn-out and fruitless struggle. “I didn’t think it would be a good idea to say anything because I had been told that no one would believe me, that even if someone did I’d have to fight at every step, and that it would be so emotionally draining that even if I got the result I wanted I’d be too miserable by then to feel like it mattered,” she said. “So I was silent.” As at Amherst, Student 1 was made to feel — by both the CAPS counselor and her friends — that she was to blame for the rape. “I was asked if I had led them on, if I’d been drinking, if I’d given consent and forgotten,” the survivor said. “I was told that I shouldn’t complain because after all, hadn’t I gone out to get some?” Student 1 was asked to repeat exactly what had happened and if she was sure it was rape so many times that she could not remember what had actually occurred and what she had adopted into her narrative. Student 1 was also made to feel guilty as a method of discouraging her from reporting her rapist. “I was reminded that my rapist was a good person and asked if I really wanted to accept responsibility for destroying their life,” she said.
Angie’s Story Angie McMillan should be a sophomore. A former member of the class of 2015, McMillan completed her freshman year before returning back home to Seattle for the summer. Unfortunately, McMillan has not come back to campus. The reason? Due to family complications, McMillan cannot afford her financial aid. “Basically, my father and I don’t have a great relationship and my mother is not wealthy, so financial aid used my father’s income, and they assumed that I don’t need it,” McMillan said. “However, due to my father and my relationship, he’s not helping with school,” she added. Even though her father has refused to contribute to her education costs, McMillan said that financial aid told her they could not factor her relationship with him in. “Despite my relationship with him, because he was my father, they have to consider him in their package,” she said. DINA ZINGARO FOR THE PHOENIX
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Delta Upsilon brother Samuil Haque and NYS member Jessica Seigel participated in the all-campus Crum Cleanup held on Saturday morning (above). Rossana Estrada of NYS cleans graffiti off a rock in the Crum (below). Page 5.
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
NEWS STUCO MAKES STRIDES, TACKLES INITIATIVES
LIVING & ARTS NANOWRIMO ARRIVES, STUDENTS PARTAKE
OPINIONS STANDING BEHIND THE MERITS OF MATH
SPORTS SO SWEET: GARNET MEN INTO NCAA SECTIONALS
As the semester continues, Student Council — lead by co-presidents Gabby Capone and Victor Brady — has shown progress in achieving all of the measures promised at the beginning of the school year. Page 3
Swarthmore students buckle down to meet the 50-000-word deadline before the end of the month — along with their normal courseload of history readings, biology labs and religion papers, that is. Page 9
Referencing statistician Nate Silver, who correctly predicted the outcome of the election of all 50 states, Patrick Ammerman argues that the country must also hold scientific fact in the highest regard . Page 15
The Garnet dominated Albertus Magnus and RPI in convincing fashion to roll into a Sweet 16 matchup against the Lord Jeffs of Amherst College to be played this upcoming Saturday. Page 17