Sexual assault at "God's Harvard" -- Patrick Henry College

[silvia]

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/1166 ... ds-harvard

Read the whole article if you have time -- it's both thoroughly researched and damning in the extreme, as far as the administration's handling of sexual assault goes. The parallels between what happened here, the Gothard incidents, and the Dougie incident keep surfacing in my mind. In all three cases, there's a highly patriarchal culture in which men blithely take what they consider their due and women are cast alternately (or simultaneously) as dependent children, temptresses, liars, and second-class citizens. The results speak for themselves.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

That was long but worth it. That Dean Corbitt sure sounds like a piece of work :/

[kaetrin]

I was just coming over to post this. It's making a splash on my FB page, which is heavily populated with PHC alumni. The people and events mentioned were after my time, and I was woefully naive to these kinds of issues when I was there, but unfortunately it doesn't surprise me that things were so badly handled. Nor does it surprise me that Farris has already stated on FB that the whole article is "inaccurate from beginning to end" and then deleted his comments.

Between this and the Recovering Grace series, I'm having a really rough week. By the grace of God or the chance of the universe or whatever you want to call it, I was never assaulted or abused but I was essentially trained to be a victim. Just realizing that has shocked and horrified me, and of course the tragic outpouring of stories from the actual victims is even worse. When are people going to realize that the patriarchal system/purity culture IS the problem and that these results are the natural consequence of the basic ideology behind it? Why are they all so quick to defend the alleged perpetrators and the institution that protects them while re-victimizing the victims? Even if only some of these stories are true, there are serious serious problems. I'm upset that we even have to say that the violence and injustice done to actual people ought to take real priority, not just lip service, over institutional purity and reputation.

[silvia]

I was just coming over to post this. It's making a splash on my FB page, which is heavily populated with PHC alumni. The people and events mentioned were after my time, and I was woefully naive to these kinds of issues when I was there, but unfortunately it doesn't surprise me that things were so badly handled. Nor does it surprise me that Farris has already stated on FB that the whole article is "inaccurate from beginning to end" and then deleted his comments.

Between this and the Recovering Grace series, I'm having a really rough week. By the grace of God or the chance of the universe or whatever you want to call it, I was never assaulted or abused but I was essentially trained to be a victim. Just realizing that has shocked and horrified me, and of course the tragic outpouring of stories from the actual victims is even worse. When are people going to realize that the patriarchal system/purity culture IS the problem and that these results are the natural consequence of the basic ideology behind it? Why are they all so quick to defend the alleged perpetrators and the institution that protects them while re-victimizing the victims? Even if only some of these stories are true, there are serious serious problems. I'm upset that we even have to say that the violence and injustice done to actual people ought to take real priority, not just lip service, over institutional purity and reputation.

kaetrin, what's the general tenor of the response from PHC alums? Are they basically trying to justify how this was handled or is there any acknowledgment that things need to change?

[kaetrin]

kaetrin, what's the general tenor of the response from PHC alums? Are they basically trying to justify how this was handled or is there any acknowledgment that things need to change?

I would say overall there's an agreement that things need to change, but there is pretty wide divergence about how deep the problems go. It ranges from "the whole place needs to crash and burn" to "maybe they need to do a better job of involving local law enforcement, but it's still not as bad as other colleges" with a lot in the middle about improving sexual assault policies and training and awareness of rape culture. As you can imagine, the rape culture aspect of the discussions is fairly heated, even more perhaps than in completely secular contexts.

I'm friends with the less conservative side of the alumni population in general, so that could skew what I'm seeing. On the alumni association page, however, there is still a fair amount of religious verbosity about showing grace for the college and attacks on the reporter for being biased and inaccurate toward PHC "culture." It's getting some pushback -- one person even said, essentially, "yeah, the reporter didn't even fully understand how integrally connected the "culture" is to the incidents" -- but most people there are falling all over themselves to be "fair and balanced" toward all parties, I think to excess.

[silvia]

And from the Farris camp, denial, denial, and more denial:

http://www.patriarchyexposed.com/2014/0 ... onsensual/

Translation: Move along, nothing to see here *pats questioner on head*. But even if there IS something to see, I'm not responsible for anything that goes on at the university I founded. Oh yeah, and women are liars. And the journalist pegged me as "quiverfull," which clearly means that the rest of her story is completely unfounded.

[kaetrin]

And from the Farris camp, denial, denial, and more denial:

http://www.patriarchyexposed.com/2014/0 ... onsensual/

Translation: Move along, nothing to see here *pats questioner on head*. But even if there IS something to see, I'm not responsible for anything that goes on at the university I founded. Oh yeah, and women are liars. And the journalist pegged me as "quiverfull," which clearly means that the rest of her story is completely unfounded.

It's like when he said there were no gay students at PHC. Outrageously offensive and laughable at the same time. ("I'm not Quiverfull! I think women can go to college!" Have you ever noticed that NO ONE is Quiverfull, ever? There was some good FB snark on that, along the lines of "So when your wife wrote a book stating that you guys were convicted that birth control is wrong and God should plan your family and you went on to have 10 children, that wasn't Quiverfull either?") Doesn't he realize that nonsense like that undermines his whole defense? Not that I want him to succeed of course; it's just that I used to expect him to be smarter about it.

I haven't been able to do any work all day. I need to get offline.

[Talitha Cumi]

I'm in the middle of the article, but I just had to talk about this:

When she met with Corbitt to show her the e-mail, the student remembers the dean saying, “The choices you make and the people you choose to associate with, the way you try to portray yourself, will affect how people treat you.â€

It was wrong to say that to the student. It's wrong to blame the victim. And I suddenly remembered the principal doing the same thing to me when I was physically and emotionally bullied in 7th grade. I was contributing to the problem because I wasn't trying hard enough to make friends, I didn't take the school seriously because I knew I was only there for that year. I tried to protest-- of course I wanted friends, of course I took things seriously and wanted to be treated well-- but he gave me this paternalistic smile and refused to listen to anything I said.

Seeing the victim-blaming at PHC and connecting it with my own experience is a revelation to me. I've never done that. I feel like a weight has been lifted off me. I haven't thought of that episode in years, but to realize all of a sudden that I was blamed, and that was wrong is amazing.

Okay, back to the article.

[Nobodysdoormat]

Oh man, i went to A Christian college for one year and it was a nightmare. People that don't fit the mold are accepted and loved there, as long as, you know, they aren't female. So brave of this girl to come forward as I'm sure there is an unbelievable amount of slut shaming. At least she's out of that disgusting culture. I hope she is able to find a place to get some distance and heal.

[silvia]

Have you ever noticed that NO ONE is Quiverfull, ever?

Totally. Don't the Duggars claim not to be Quiverfull, either? It's like if Wilt Chamberlain claimed not to be a ladies' man.

[Talitha Cumi]

Sarah still believed what her Christian homeschooling upbringing had instilled in her: that you shouldn’t question adults in positions of authority, because they’re looking out for you and probably know best. So when Corbitt strongly encouraged Sarah not to go to the police—to trust Patrick Henry College to handle this situation—she did as she was told.

And THIS is why fundies love homeschooling. It prepares students to be sheep who can be easily led to do whatever the authorities want them to do. Questioning and critical thinking are bad because it prevents those in authority from taking advantage. Oh God, this infuriates me.

One day, Sarah and Josh plan to have children and homeschool them.

:angry-banghead:

[Cleopatra7]

Totally. Don't the Duggars claim not to be Quiverfull, either? It's like if Wilt Chamberlain claimed not to be a ladies' man.

I think the Duggars at least stopped calling themselves quiverfull once the mainstream media started to pick up on the subculture. But if you have giving birth to nineteen living children, how can you not be quiverfull? At the very least that makes the Duggars into "militant fecundity." In the show, they usually just refer to themselves as Baptists, which can mean anything and nothing at all. Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter are Baptists too, but are nothing like the Duggars.

[CynicMom]

That article made me stabby. My heart rate is still elevated just from reading that.

[August]

I think the Duggars at least stopped calling themselves quiverfull once the mainstream media started to pick up on the subculture. But if you have giving birth to nineteen living children, how can you not be quiverfull? At the very least that makes the Duggars into "militant fecundity." In the show, they usually just refer to themselves as Baptists, which can mean anything and nothing at all. Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter are Baptists too, but are nothing like the Duggars.

if you took responsibility for your choice to have 19 children you wouldn't be quiverfull. It's the pretense of not really wanting lots of kids that makes them quiverful. You know, having unprotected PIV sex and pretending like you're not ttc.

[silvia]

And THIS is why fundies love homeschooling. It prepares students to be sheep who can be easily led to do whatever the authorities want them to do. Questioning and critical thinking are bad because it prevents those in authority from taking advantage. Oh God, this infuriates me.

I was talking with a friend last night about what moral responsibility people bear for their choices when they're part of a toxic culture in which moral norms are twisted or inverted. In this situation, parents and school officials all seem to have drummed into Sarah that she'd be doing something immoral by speaking the truth. Likewise, Sarah's PHC peers have been drilled since babyhood to uphold the beliefs of authority figures and obey them without question. Those of us on the outside can see the merits of thinking, questioning, and arriving at one's own take on things, but when you've been taught since day one that this kind of examined life is BAD, what hope is there for even the brightest and best-intentioned kids raised in such families?

[Cleopatra7]

The comments at the bottom are pretty depressing too, with some right-wing rape apologists complaining about Bill Clinton and how "liberal" Harvard has no morality. As if any of that was relevant to the story. :angry-banghead:

[marmalade]

The comments at the bottom are pretty depressing too, with some right-wing rape apologists complaining about Bill Clinton and how "liberal" Harvard has no morality. As if any of that was relevant to the story. :angry-banghead:

One thing fundies are excellent at is throwing up strawmen when they have no valid defense. See Ken Ham/Bill Nye debate for examples. :mrgreen:

[debrand]

Students in the school’s Strategic Intelligence Program can graduate with security clearances from their summer internships, making PHC a feeder school for the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency, various branches of the military, and intelligence contractors.

So much of this article is troubling and not just for the attitudes toward sexual assault victims. The idea of mindless sheep who never question the status quo running the military, the government and other powerful groups frightens me.

She remembers being called in to talk to the residential director, who told her that a male professor had informed the Office of Student Life that her shirts were too revealing when she bent over

Amazingly enough, the evil secular world would believe that the professor had a problem and should stop staring down the student's blouse because, as a grown man, he is responsible for his own actions.

He argued that feminism and liberalism have transformed the government into “a matriarchal leviathan.†The result, he said, according to a copy of the speech, was a society plagued by politically motivated “witch hunts†against men—while “the seductress who lures men into a ‘honeytrap’ †was really to blame. “Recreational sex in the evening turns into accusations of ‘rape’ in the morning, even when it was entirely consensual,†Baskerville explained. “This is especially rampant on college campuses.†(In a statement, PHC said Baskerville’s speech was “an exercise in academic freedom†and not “endorsed by the administration.â€)

:angry-banghead:

[debrand]

Rosin wrote that “Patrick Henry girls who are too loud, too eager for leadership roles, too political—no matter how appropriately they dress—are always kept at arm’s length. Boys refer to them as the ‘red leather stiletto girls’ or ‘political animals,’ and all but declare them unmarriageable.â€

So, Patrick Henry is training a group of men to be assholes.

[FloraKitty35]

An excellent article. After I read it, I tweeted it. Victim blaming and shaming makes me queasy and brings back memories of my own experience of being bullied and sexually molested from age 13 to 15. :twisted: