Sexual Assault and Asian Women
"When raping a fellow student is less of a dishonor than cheating in an organic chemistry course, it shows how far Dartmouth needs to go before it can be seen as a healthy and safe place for women."
– Letter to the Editor by Megan Spence '98, from The Dartmouth (January 13, 1997)
Susan Marine entered Dartmouth College in 1996 as the Sexual Abuse Awareness Program (SAAP) coordinator. According to Marine, Dartmouth “had one of the most well-established and funded sexual assault prevention programs in the nation.” This program was the product of student mobilization towards a more accepting, safe campus environment.
In this section, we look at campus culture in the early 2000s surrounding sexual assault against Asian women, as well as responses from students about this hidden reality. Then, we discuss incidents of sexual violence that occurred within Dartmouth Greek spaces against Asian and Asian American women.
In April of 1979, students organized a "Take Back the Night" in response to campus sexual violence, taking place in April of 1979. Around two hundred people marched down frat row at night, walking the areas where women feel most unsafe at the times they are most vulnerable.