Spelman and Morehouse students, alumni respond to Morehouse rape scandal allegations
OPINION - As of now, students and alumni are engaged in long-standing arguments over institutional identity, media attacks on black men and violence against women...
Wilkerson says, however, that the responsibility to protect students from sexual assault falls on both institutions. “The Atlanta University Center has this infamous history of attempting to deal with traumatic cases after they’ve occurred. [The schools] fail to take preventative measures to ensure that their campuses are educated on sexual assault and rape culture, therefore they silence the issue. This hush-hush notion of ‘what happens in our house stays in our house’ is lethal. Because of it, incidents like these go on for a long time until the tea is spilled.”
Events reopens controversial wounds
The last time something similar to the current rape allegations made waves was in 2006 when Spelman students led a protest onto Morehouse’s campus demanding that attention be paid to the case of a student who had claimed she was sexually assaulted. I was a freshman then and along with other students felt blindsided by a scenario we could never imagine. We were either too comfortable with the image of intercampus unity promoted by the schools or blind to the reality of violence against women, even on our campus.
“Sexual assault is a societal problem, and is particularly present at college campuses all over the country,” says Marcus Edwards, who was president of the Morehouse Student Government Association at the time of the 2006 protest, and worked to facilitate dialog in the aftermath of the protest. “Accelerating the situation, Morehouse College is one of only four all-male colleges or universities in the country, and the Atlanta University Center is one of only two consortiums in the country where an all-male school and an all-female school are linked. So while sexual assault is a nationwide phenomenon, the dynamics of nestling a single-sex school next to an opposite-sex school amplifies the community reaction to these crimes.”
Edwards calls this a recipe for miscommunication, but also is an opportunity for deeper conversations about sex, gender, and violence.
We can only hope those conversations lead to results. I’m encouraged that they will. Since 2006, it seems the campuses of Morehouse and Spelman have moved light-years ahead in terms of handling these sensitive issues, even if the media hasn’t noticed. A week before the most recent allegations became news, newly-appointed college President John Silvanus Wilson, Jr. called a town hall meeting inside the school’s Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel to engage students about sexual violence. A week before that, representatives from the organization Men Stopping Violence spoke on campus in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Hoping “SpelHouse” can maintain unity
What’s most encouraging for me, though, is to hear my brothers speaking out on behalf of our sisters — checking ourselves, each other and speaking truth to the system of male privilege that permeates our campus and society at large. For those brothers asking him to remove his post from Facebook, my friend Kelechi A. Kalu says he can only feel sorry. “I am a human being first, then a man, then a black man, then a Morehouse man,” Kalu told me. He won’t be silenced by a need to protect the image of the college at the expense of speaking a truth that impacts his Spelman sisters.
I can’t agree more. And although I hope the young men at the center of this case get a fair hearing by the law and the media, I can’t help but be reminded of my four sisters, who are moving through a world that may often be hostile to them.
I also fondly remember my days walking back to campus late at night. It wasn’t uncommon for me to pass a Spelman student at a nearby MARTA train station. If they recognized my face or saw me sporting Morehouse paraphernalia, some would ask to walk with me.
I was honored to oblige, and hope that kind trust isn’t a thing of the past.
Follow Donovan X. Ramsey at @iDXR
