Photo courtesy of Unsplash // The Dean of Students sent an email detailing the potential consequences of overconsumption of alcohol.
CW: Sexual assault
“I just could not believe that they would say something like that,” said a senior criminology and linguistics major.
On Thursday, Oct. 28, the Dean of Students released an email to the Hofstra student body reminding students to stay safe during Halloween weekend. The email mentioned the possible consequences of alcohol consumption in a way that upset a number of students.
“Overconsumption can result in various consequences, including lowered academic achievement, injury, trauma and sexual violence,” read the email.
Kadaline Jackel, a senior psychology major and survivor of sexual assault, found that particular sentence to be victim shaming and was “shocked and upset” after reading it.
“If they were going to include anything about trauma and sexual violence, I think they should have aimed the warning more towards people that are sexually violent towards others,” Jackel said. “They could have worded it as, ‘if being intoxicated puts you at an increased risk of victimizing someone, make sure to stay away from [alcohol] this weekend.’”
One student who requested anonymity to avoid overshadowing those who are survivors of sexual assault said that people she knew who were survivors of sexual assault found the sentence “retraumatizing.” She sent an email to the Dean of Student Affairs the following day, making them aware of the students’ concerns.
“I can assure you after consulting with many of my peers that this message was read as victim blaming,” she said in her email. “It is your responsibility as a leader of the Hofstra Community to avoid verbiage that can be read as discriminatory in any way, and unfortunately, yesterday your message was at the expense of others.”
After searching through her inbox, she found that this same sentence was used in an email sent by the Dean of Students in 2018, but had been changed the following year.
“The 2019 email took the responsibility of any ‘consequences’ away from the individual, and only focused on keeping our student body safe. Frankly, I am concerned over the regression from the care expressed in the 2019 email back to the victim blaming content present in [this year’s] email,” she said in her email. “While I understand that your purpose was to drive home the risks people face with alcohol consumption and to encourage precaution, the 2019 email managed to do so without it being at the expense of survivors of sexual assault.”
While Jackel understood the intention of the email, she felt it was not clear and potentially damaging to students.
“If it [sexual assault] were to happen to someone this weekend,” Jackel said, “I feel like the wording in that email could possibly deter them seeking resources for sexual violence on campus.”
On Monday, Nov. 1, the student who sent the email received a response from Michelle Van Ess-Grant, dean of students and assistant vice president for Student Affairs.
“While national data shows that alcohol consumption is present in a large percentage of college campus sexual assaults, correlation does not imply causation. We understand the impact of language and how this message was perceived, although this perception was not our intent,” Van Ess-Grant said. “We wholeheartedly agree that alcohol does not cause sexual assault, and we sincerely apologize for implying this in our Halloween weekend email.”
The student who sent the email was appreciative of this response but felt an apology should have been issued to the entire student body since many were affected. She encourages other students to come forward when they view something that can be offensive and triggering to anyone in the student body.
“You need to speak up,” she said, “even if it doesn’t affect you.”
