SJSU takes right path on sexual assault
On campus only a few months, San Jose State University President Mary Papazian has shown a refreshingly frank approach to problems. Now it’s evident in the biggest social challenge of campus life today: the epidemic of sexual assault and the inability of many universities to deal with it effectively.
Two San Jose State women athletes felt they were not supported by the university after they accused a water polo player of raping them at an offcampus party over Labor Day. Administrators often react ineptly when they’re challenged like this, reluctant to admit they’ve come up short. Not Papazian. She wrote a letter to the campus this week, saying the university had not done enough to keep the two women informed about the case — they learned some details first from The Mercury News — and she promised action, including a new look at the campus policy on issuing crime alerts and a series of campus discussions to reinforce the seriousness of sexual assault and where to go for help, real help, if it happens.
She pledged to do “everything possible to ensure that SJSU is a safe, caring, inclusive community.”
Taking this on directly is in contrast to university leaders who have been reluctant to admit to failures, risking what they see as bad publicity. Papazian’s instinct is the right one. It ultimately will strengthen the university’s reputation.
In the past few years, sexual assault and sexual harassment have emerged from the shadows on college campuses. The federal government is investigating nearly 300 cases of mishandling of sexual assault by more than 150 universities. Stanford University is in the top five.
Since last spring, headlines have been filled with the case of Brock Turner, the Stanford athlete whom witnesses saw assaulting an unconscious woman outside a campus party. Turner’s light sentence by Judge Aaron Persky energized law professor Michele Dauber and other Stanford activists to launch a recall of the judge, capturing national attention.
Their outrage stemmed partly from the perception that Stanford’s powers-that-be had not dealt well with campus assaults. Now, video of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump bragging about kissing and groping women without consequence has elevated the public’s attention to all this.
Papazian’s instinct for frank confrontation rather than hushing things up was clear last month when swastikas and hate graffiti turned up in a college dorm. Instead of circling the wagons, Papazian called in the media and addressed the problem directly.
Interim President Sue Martin started some good work at SJSU that Papazian is building upon.
We hope the new president succeeds — and sets an example for California universities, public and private, as they deal with these challenges.