e had gorged ourselves with free food (does Keystone Light have nutritious value?). We had shaken the hand of the mighty President James Wright, marking our matriculation to the College and, more importantly, our departure from the jurisdiction of Hanover Police when we urinate on Parkhurst. We had learned the Dartmouth lingo, while sketchy awk randos booted the fro-yo they picked up at fo-co prior to chugging alco…hol. Orientation, perhaps more accurately called Disorientation, had been ten glorious days of hooking up and learning pong.

Orientation did a fantastic job of introducing alcohol abuse into freshman lives. Perhaps the administration wanted to create a boot camp (pun intended) for its fresh meat: if a student can endure ten days of binge drinking without being picked up, while skipping any planned activities not involving free food, they become a certified student at Dartmouth. Perhaps these are the very reasons why many freshman now reminisce about their honeymoon stay in Hanover, and why many upperclassmen still think the hey-days of Orientation were some of their best times on campus.

It is no wonder that the many tired, hungover freshmen, packing the arena during convocation and gawking at what appeared to be the faculty of Hogwarts strolling through the aisles, did not feel ready to receive the message that Student Assembly President Timothy Andreadis wished to convey.

Somewhere swimming within Orientation’s maelstrom of boozing and blacking out was a harsh truth that only Andreadis dared to fish out and display to Dartmouth’s newest students. “Sexual assault is an important issue that needs to be addressed on every campus even if the perception exists that ‘not that many’ occur,” says Andreadis. “By no means is sexual assault the only issue we need to address as a Dartmouth community, but good work has already been done to address it and I am eager to build on that work.”

A part of me felt at the time that the administration may be useless in this struggle to prevent sexual assault on campus. But Andreadis refuted that thought: “The administration has been incredibly proactive and they are always open to hearing new ideas from students for how to better address sexual assault.” Orientation did attempt, though poorly, to confront the issues of sexual assault in a program entitled “Consensual Sex is Hot.” The speaker there aimlessly spoke about how the get-laid-quick attitude stems from man’s desire to express masculinity and eat raw meat. Offering no definition of consensual sex nor any techniques for women to avoid situations that could result in assault, the speaker’s flashes of good ideas were lost amongst the bored freshman audience. I think at one point during the hour-long ramble, the words “pussy” and “raw meat” were written side by side, though its significance (other than hilarity) remains unknown to me.

“Masculinity is very often associated with violence and aggression and I would definitely say that I have been ingrained with the message that I can prove my manhood and heterosexuality if I sleep with women,” says Andreadis. In one sentence, our Student Assembly president conveyed what the “Consensual Sex is Hot” speaker could not even partially articulate. The lecture, as a whole, reflected Orientation’s half-assed attempt to convey the reality and prevalence of sexual assault on campus. In fact, it made a giant joke out of the matter altogether.

I think it is easy for students, especially freshman, to laugh off the absurdity of sexual assault on campus. Who, at a school so filled with kind, unique and intelligent people, would want to inflict violence on another person? What kind of misogynistic, heartless male would seek to harm an unwilling female? What kind of naïve, promiscuous female would put herself into these kinds of situations?

The answers to these questions are the people you eat with at lunch, the people you sit with during a lecture, the brothers and sisters at your favorite fraternities and sororities, members of your team, members of your clubs, your tripees, your trip leaders, your floor, your roommates. But Andreadis was right in noting that sexual assault does not occur solely in the basements of fraternities and placing blame on fraternities “serves to further divide campus and it stalls the dialogue around sexual assault by wrongly isolating discussions to only one aspect of campus life.”

Most students want and enjoy sex. Dick’s House would not sell discount condoms in vending machines if they knew students were trying to abstain from it. But everyone must know that sex is about mutual consent, when both parties actively convey their desire to participate. However, matters complicate further with the introduction of alcohol. Orientation’s biggest failure was in its inability to highlight the importance of sexual encounters involving intoxication. So, then, how do we determine the consent of inebriated partners?

“It’s easy—get consent before you kiss, hug, fondle, get head, etc.,” suggests Leah Prescott, coordinator of the Sexual Abuse Awareness Program, which has qualified 50 new Sexual Abuse Peer Advisors (SAPAs), trained 7 SAPAs to run the weekend SAPA hotline, and worked with Mentors Against Violence (MAVs) to organize an outreach program during Orientation to discuss consensual sex. “I don’t think it’s a hard concept; students have to talk to each other about what they wish to happen, intoxicated or not and if a person doesn’t have a clear indication that either party is willing (freely, without manipulation, talking into, etc.) to have sex then that, I would have to say, is the line—don’t cross it!”

So, there is no such thing as physical (as opposed to verbal) consent. Drunk gestures hinting toward the potential desire for sex should NEVER be used as a way to determine consent. If more students took note of this, there would be fewer cases of assault, regret, and poor decision making.

Too often do people attempt to equate the phrase “sexual assault” with “rape,” which may appear drastic, but still affects the mindsets of students on campus. “I think the word ‘rape’ conjures up a specific notion of a sexual encounter involving forced intercourse,” noted Andreadis. Using this logic only further delays action while adding to the confusion of where to draw the line. Andreadis further adds that the vernacular we use “has a huge impact on how we address sexual assault as a community, but also on survivors of sexual assault who may not consider the incident a ‘rape’ and therefore are less likely to report it.” Maybe this is why students have such a hard time discussing the issues.

Date rape drugs exist on campus. “Nationally, alcohol has been proven to be the #1 drug of choice for many sexual assaults. (It’s not just a Dartmouth thing),” explains Prescott. Yeah, yeah—that’s just a statistic representing colleges across America; here at Dartmouth, alcohol is used as a way to promote good times.

But then why do some fraternities close their doors to male freshman when they are not with females and why do some fraternities give priority to females for drinks and pong games? Surely, this does not suggest a chivalry amongst males on campus, but rather a desire to eliminate the inhibitions of their female friends.

And why the hell is Robitussin mixed in with drinks? Because zombies rule (they do) and students want to be like them? Or because we feel that it provides a quicker route to numbing the perceptions and choices of students, thus offering an even quicker to the engaging of sex with an uninhibited partner?

Perhaps these are the questions that all students need to answer.

I know that I am only a freshman, the bottom rung in Dartmouth’s ladder of wisdom and experience, but this does not mean amongst the recent changes in my life, that I have been blind to the sexism, the assault, and the degradation of women on campus. “The Clery Report was just published and shows that in 2005, 14 forcible assaults were reported,” says Prescott. “This number shows what I consider to be a fraction of the number of assaults happening on campus as well as those that are actually reported.” The scariest part of it all is that many people refuse to note its existence, denying it as a reality in the Dartmouth Bubble.

“We don’t have to call it rape, sexual assault, misogyny, or even sexism, but let’s call it something and let’s say it loudly!” echoed the voice of our Student Assembly President on the morning of September. The Dartmouth community MUST, as Andreadis advises, begin to voice observances of sexual assault and stop denying its existence.

“Consent is so sexy! Consent illustrates that you respect the person you’re hooking up with; consent illustrates that you respect yourself; getting consent shows that you care about your future; getting consent show that you are truly the Dartmouth student that the world thinks you are!” reflects Prescott. And, Dartmouth, I think it’s about time we start getting sexy (but only if you are comfortable with it).

Following is a partial transcription of Tim Andreadis’s speech:

...If you haven’t already, you will hear administrators and many others telling you that your class is special, and without question you certainly are. You have the highest SAT scores of any Dartmouth entering class; you are the most diverse, and so on. But there is one statistic that may not be mentioned, at least not as frequently. This class has the highest percentage of women ever to be in an entering Dartmouth freshman class at 51.6 percent.

However, I would argue that having an entering class with the highest percentage of women ever does not necessarily mean that all women on this campus will feel welcomed or comfortable in every space at all times.

As anyone who identifies as a ‘minority’ or member of an ‘underrepresented group’ in American society can tell you, being in the majority, statistically, does not mean that you will not still feel marginalized. Being labeled a ‘minority’ has less to do with numbers and more to do with the way in which group identities are established within a cultural and social discourse. This discourse positions groups in relations of power that run deeper than any so-called ‘political correctness’ can every really correct.

Of course, for many women on campus, it’s no problem to go out and have fun in a space controlled by men. But often the discourse and behavior which permeates these spaces, intentional or not, have a tendency to make others feel uneasy or even threatened.

Degrading women is still a ritualized item on Wednesday night’s agenda in too many fraternity houses. While dialogue and behavior in fraternities does not cause sexual assault, the dynamic in these spaces often presents a misleading representation of what is actually taking place. Let me clarify. Most men in these spaces can walk away from Wednesday’s meetings knowing that the discussion may have verged on being inappropriate, but with the full knowledge that the intention was not to encourage aggressive or coercive behavior toward women. However, for those men who have engaged in coercive sexual activity the message is clear - all of my buddies seem to be doing the same thing and therefore there is nothing wrong with my own behavior...

Although some of my examples this morning cite fraternities as being implicated in many of these events, it is important to understand that sexism exists everywhere and placing blame on the Greek system only serves to further divide campus and it stalls the dialogue around sexual assault by wrongly isolating discussions to only one aspect of campus life. Many men at Dartmouth have fought for better gender relations on this campus. Not only have men become sexual assault peer advisors and mentors against violence, but fraternity presidents and respected leaders within those houses have stood up against sexual violence and have openly addressed the issue- pledging that such behavior will not be tolerated in their house. Many more men on this campus have stood out by standing up to those who have caused problems for their female friends. Such men have established their integrity as people and especially as men, not by degrading women, but by calling out their male peers who do...

Sexual assault is by no means something which only affects women. Men on this campus have found themselves in frustrating and life-shattering situations after a night of heavy drinking and poor decision making, surprised to find a blitz in their inbox weeks later from the Committee on Standards with the charge of sexual assault against them. Dealing with the Committee on Standards is one thing, managing the guilt and regret is another. By engaging in a dialogue around sexual assault as a community, we serve to educate both women and men by providing women with resources and men with clear examples of inappropriate behavior.

If you get nothing else from my speech this morning, I hope you have learned that as official members of the Dartmouth community you will inherit more from Dartmouth than the granite of New Hampshire in your muscles and your brains. You inherit a history that has not always been kind or favorable to women on this campus. And while women undergraduates may outnumber the men in larger numbers than ever, the majority of professors, the majority of high-ranking administrators, and I, the student body president - are all male. I don’t think we should fire male professors or burn bras in the middle of the green in protest, but I do think we need to be vigilant about recognizing, naming, and reporting incidents in which women on this campus feel uncomfortable, unsafe, or threatened. We don’t have to call it rape, sexual assault, misogyny, or even sexism, but let’s call it something and let’s say it loudly!