Veitch discusses verbal consent, zero tolerance at faculty meeting

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Author: Lucy Feickert

The topic of Occidental’s interim sexual assault policy dominated Thursday’s faculty meeting. Following faculty questions concerning the current policy and plans for a permanent policy, the Faculty Council invited President Jonathan Veitch to come speak at the meeting. The faculty asked Veitch specifically about the policy issues of verbal consent and zero tolerance, according to Faculty Council President and Mathematics Professor Nalsey Tinberg.

“We had asked the President to take about half an hour and answer questions about the interim policy and the issues around sexual misconduct,” Tinberg said. “And he took us a bit by surprise because he came, of course, and he used the 30 minutes to really talk to us in his way, heart to heart, to tell us how difficult all of this has been, and that he’s trying to make the situation right, [despite] complications on some of the topics.”

While, according to Tinberg, it is not unusual for Veitch to attend faculty meetings and speak, many of the faculty wanted time to ask questions and have a discussion with the President, which they were not able to do. She also noted Veitch’s display of emotions at the meetings and the faculty’s response.

“I think they were surprised because he’s our President, we want him to lead, we want him to lead us out of this crisis, and it’s difficult to be a president, I can appreciate that, but you have to rise above some of the day-to-day and the discomfort and the back and forth, and be the president,” Tinberg said.

Art History and Visual Arts Professor Linda Lyke said that Veitch also mentioned his contract.

“[Veitch] said that he wants the support and respect of the faculty before he decides if Occidental is the right place for him,” Lyke said. “I think he is right for the school.”

Veitch did not mention this comment in his description of the meeting, instead saying that he explained the progress made over the summer, such as improving education of the student body and making relevant personnel changes. He explained the role of the Sexual Assault Task Force in the formation of the policy.

“We talked about verbal consent, and we talked about zero tolerance,” Veitch said. “This is for the task force to deliberate, and I encouraged them to deliberate this with students, because at the end of the day students have to own it. It can’t just be something that a committee decides, and it affects the most intimate relationships that students have.”

Veitch also expressed concerns over the issue of verbal consent, an issue very important to much of the faculty.

“On the one hand, I can see the pros of verbal consent policy, and I can see the cons,” Veitch said. “The pros are it helps people understand clearly what people’s intentions are, I hope. The con is that most sexual relationships don’t operate that way, so you would have a vast number of people who are out of compliance. You’re trying to change a culture.”

Tinberg commended Veitch on his handling of these two issues of great importance to the faculty.

“I think he did a good job in delineating the issues that we have strong disagreements with: no verbal consent and no tolerance, and he made it very clear that he wants a policy that somehow goes through the middle, that doesn’t sway towards the respondent and doesn’t sway towards the complainant,” Tinberg said. “We’d like that too, in a perfect world, but what we also want is to make sure that the rules are clear, that students are educated, that we might dare to change the culture on campus and that we will not tolerate acts of assault.”

Biology professor Gretchen North expressed her assessment of the faculty’s standing on the issues of verbal consent and zero tolerance.

“Like most constituencies on campus, the faculty is divided on these two issues, and discussion—even heated discussion—should be expected,” North said via email. “I’ll stick my neck out and say I favor verbal consent, and I would favor zero tolerance if I thought we could have a perfect system of adjudication.”

In the coming weeks, Veitch will continue to meet with the faculty to discuss these issues. He stated a desire to reach resolution and move on.

“I am hoping we will agree we have made good progress and turn our attention to curriculum development, fundraising, scholarship support, the new international center, all the things that everybody came here to do because we have confidence now that the college has fully embraced its responsibilities,” Veitch said.

North also expressed the desire to establish a policy and move onto other things.

“It’s important that we get a policy soon, but it has to be one that makes sense to most of the community,” North said in an email. “That said, I’ll repeat the word soon. Students need to know where they stand, and they need to be safe, and we all have to get on with the rest of our lives here at Oxy.”

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