Sweeping Illegal Vs Sexual Assault Policy Under the Rug

The structure of the visitations policy at Exeter has always been controversial. From restricted hours to the open doors policy, students constantly criticize the way that the administration handles mixed gender interactions in a private setting. One of the more serious and often times less discussed issues that the current visitations policy creates is actually a byproduct of the penalty of illegal visitations (illegal Vs). The punishment that students face if caught with illegal Vs creates a hostile environment for any student who feels uncomfortable or threatened, sexually or emotionally, while getting illegal Vs. A student may feel trapped in the room of the person with whom they are getting illegal Vs or may feel embarrassed to ask someone to leave their own room for fear of being caught and receiving disciplinary repercussions.I was informed very recently that Exeter has an unwritten, understood amnesty that technically allows students to remove themselves from an “illegal visitations session” if they feel sexually assaulted or harassed. However, it has been apparent that the school has no intention of making this visible for fear of encouraging students to get illegal Vs.Such an unshared policy would give students who feel uncomfortable in a situation a way to seek help and escape a potentially dangerous or harmful encounter. It would help kids who were otherwise presumably deterred from seeking help, assuming that they would automatically be punished for getting illegal Vs.Yes, illegal Vs are against school rules, but I believe they are going to happen as long as the visitations policy remains in its current state, whether or not the school chooses to acknowledge it. In addition, sexual assault, as much as we want to believe it doesn’t, occurs on campus more often than we realize, and the administration refusing to acknowledge pre-existing policies that could help students in these unfortunate situations isn’t helping anyone. Although not all sexual assault occurs during illegal Vs and not all illegal Vs lead to sexual assault, I believe that providing the option of walking out on illegal visitations sessions to seek help could help to diminish the possibility of sexual assault as a direct result of fear of punishment for illegal Vs.With the Saint Paul’s rape case so close in our rear view mirrors and many similarities in the environment between Exeter and Saint Paul’s, it seems as though the school should be providing as many outlets as possible that help to decrease the likelihood of sexual assault on campus. Since the amnesty already exists, it should be available to be utilized in situations that could otherwise have lead to cases of sexual assault, detrimental to the future wellbeing of our student body. Even if the transparency of these policies increases the number of illegal Vs on campus, it seems like a reasonable price to pay to make students feel more able to remove themselves from potentially dangerous situations.