Pervasive rape culture in college administrations: Amherst College edition *TRIGGER WARNING*

Today the Amherst Student– the college newspaper– ran an article called “An Account of Sexual Assault at Amherst College.” The piece, written by former Amherst class of 2014er Angie Epifano, outlines in excruciating detail the ways in which the administration of Amherst failed to support her in the wake of her rape on May, 25, 2011. Not even 12 hours after the article was posted, the Amherst Student website is consistently giving an error message suggesting that the number of hits has crashed their server.

In the over 5000-word piece, Epifano describes the administration’s response– or lack of response– to her reported rape. The school’s sexual assault counselor discouraged her from reporting the rape to the police, saying that since the student who raped Epifano would be graduating soon and there was nothing the school could do. They wouldn’t let her change dorms. Epifano’s account was questioned– was it really rape? She was discouraged from going through the college’s disciplinary process. And when the pressure of living in a community that was protecting her rapist made her suicidal, Amherst forcibly admitted Epifano to the Psychiatric ward of Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

Before I detail the rest of her story, I’d like to put this part in focus: Amherst actively discouraged Epifano from seeking justice for herself and punishment for her rapist, but the moment she suggested hurting herself, they became involved and removed her from the campus. Amherst’s message to rape survivors is this: you are the problem.

Cooley Dickinson was no more supportive. A doctor told Epifano that, “A school like Amherst wouldn’t allow you to be raped.” She was not allowed to leave the hospital, being told that her depression was not normal, that she was a danger to herself. And after four days, she was told that Amherst would not allow her back even if she “recovered” sufficiently enough to be discharged.

According to her piece, Epifano’s social worker told her that: “In order for students to be allowed back they had to have parental supervision while on campus in order to make sure that the student did not relapse into substance abuse again (the most common reason for student admittance into the Ward). This meant that a parent would stay in a hotel near campus and would then follow their child around for two weeks until the “all clear” period was reached.” Epifano does not have parents. Therefore, there was no way for her to return to Amherst College.

That’s right: after forcing a rape survivor off campus against her will, Amherst used the reason of her very admission to Cooley Dickinson as grounds for not allowing her back on campus.

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