From the hiring of a new Director of Community Standards and Title IX Coordinator, Catherine Berryman, to the myriad of Title IX trainings conducted around campus by Corinne Smith ’17, it is apparent to anyone paying attention that Hamilton is pouring resources into combatting the insidious issue of sexual misconduct and assault on campus. The administration’s initiatives and undertakings are admirable, but unless their efforts are matched, or ideally surpassed, by the student body, then there will be no tangible shift in Hamilton’s culture. The work currently being done by Hamilton Sexual Assault Violence Education and Support (SAVES), Student Assembly (SA), and the countless other efforts of my peers is laudable and important, but I believe that there is a gaping oversight in the conversation surrounding sexual misconduct.
A dialogue about the social scene Hamilton students engage in is not complete without discussing the culture of rampant substance abuse. The knee-jerk reaction to anyone who raises questions about college students and substance abuse is something to the tune of: “It’s college, it’s just how it goes.” Baloney. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Regardless, that isn’t a hill that I’m willing to die on. Without touching the substance abuse issues themselves, it is important, in my opinion, to put serious and careful thought into the physical spaces where students are imbibing. It is my contention that these spaces in general, but specifically the Village Tavern, create predatory environments that are breeding grounds for sexual misconduct and are a Hamilton-specific problem.
I remember in the first few weeks of my first fall semester at Hamilton trying to get a grasp of what my college party life would look like. My friends and I quickly learned that generally, and yes I am making a generality, students who choose to party on the weekends drink up the Hill and then make their way downtown to the bars.
I was informed that there are two bars that Hamilton students go to — Don’s Rok and the Village Tavern (colloquially known as the “Rok” and “VT”, respectively). The Rok was coined a “dive bar” where the “townies” hung out and not many people frequented. The VT was the “fun bar”, where you went to see your friends and to get laid. I don’t think that my experience was unique; the majority of students that I talk to (especially first-year students or students that have transferred to Hamilton) were told at one point or another that the VT is where you go if you’re trying to get lucky.
Before many students even get to the VT, they have an idea or expectation of what it is, either told to them explicitly by an older friend or implicitly by the culture of Hamilton. The truth, at least my own biased and most likely skewed truth, is that the VT is a cesspool. The environment of the VT is predatory, and people seem to forget basic social rules and expectations once they cross the door jam after the “security guard” gives their quasi-passable fake ID a one-over with a flashlight.
Men in the Village Tavern seem to think it appropriate to touch women without asking or often without any introduction. I understand that the VT is an incredibly crowded space (more on that later), but in absolutely no context is it appropriate to grab someone by their hips, breasts, genitals, or butt to move them out of your way. That is, by definition, sexual assault. I don’t have a single female friend that has not, in at least one instance, been touched without their consent in the VT.
Staring someone down from across a crowded room, walking over to them, and striking up a conversation while standing inches away from their face without any kind of engagement or positive response from them isn’t something that would be acceptable in any other context than the VT.
The language used in the Village Tavern, most commonly by men, is disgusting. Comments to the nature of: “I’ve got to find a hoe before the Jitney comes”, or “I better get a nut tonight”, and “Ugh, she’s beat but I’d still smash” are misogynistic, directly contribute to the problems Hamilton has with sexual misconduct and assault, and, vitally, are widely accepted or at least tolerated. Often times people will excuse grossly inappropriate actions or comments by blaming alcohol or drugs, but if this pattern happens repeatedly then who is really to blame? Perhaps you shouldn’t be drinking to the point where your libido completely rules you and your self-control go out the window.
Why does this happen? Why does no one step in? Hamilton students are, for the most part, some of the most conscientious, brave, and socially aware people that I know, yet when confronted with brazen and disgusting actions, the most common response is silence. People say things like: “Well it was the VT, what do you expect”, or “Yeah he did that, but it could have been worse.” This is unacceptable. I reject the notion that this is “just how it is.” At the VT — and only at the VT — different rules seem to apply. I can say with confidence that sexual misconduct occurs at other social spaces on and off Hamilton’s campus, but I maintain that nowhere at Hamilton is it as rampant and public as the Village Tavern.
Some people seem to think that just being in the VT on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday is an explicit declaration that they’re looking for a sexual encounter. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had friends have to say to an overly-aggressive VT patron, “No I’m just here with my friends.” This galling assumption that people make is most clearly highlighted when students, myself included at one point, who are in long-distance relationships (or relationships in general) are told off for being in the VT. I’ll say it once more for the people in the back: No, being at the VT is not the equivalent of an advertisement for a sexual experience.
The combination of a culture that supports and does not challenge predatory behavior, a tightly enclosed space, and impaired students is dangerous. It leads to sexual assault. We must, as a community, change the way that we interact with and around the Village Tavern.
Part of the problem is that there’s no cap on patrons in the VT the way there is at a bar like Breakaway; the confined space and cramped standing room is possibly an exacerbating factor. I think that there should be a set limit of students allowed in at one time, but I don’t know the first thing on how to get that into effect. The problems I’ve described exist at the Rok, at Breakaway, at all campus functions, and in suite parties. I maintain, however, that nowhere other than the VT are they so illuminated, tacitly encouraged, rewarded, and practiced.
At this point in my diatribe I think it important to note that not everyone behaves this way at the VT. Without question there are safe and healthy practices. I also must acknowledge I have not had first-hand experience of the majority of behaviors and challenges that I’ve raised. Despite this, I believe the problem to be pervasive and worthy of addressing. It is especially discouraging that incoming students are told that that’s how the VT works; these accounts encourage an attitude of futility and acceptance. I will not equivocate my opinion. The culture of the Village Tavern is a direct result of how the student body treats the space, and the problems that exist on the beer-soaked floors and between the grimy walls are ones of our own creation. It does not have to be this way.
The easiest (at least on paper, certainly not in practice) and most effective way for a change in the culture of the VT to come about is individual interventions. I’m going to borrow the TSA adage and encourage you, dear reader, to say something if you see something. Ignore the cliché, it really is that simple. Silence is a direct contribution to the predatory environment of the Village Tavern and must not be the norm. I implore you to speak out when — unfortunately, I can’t say “if” here — you see your friends being grabbed against their will. Rush to their defense. Be the kind of friend that you would want to have. Don’t accept someone making a crude comment or derogatory remark as flirting, don’t go home with someone who put their hands on you without asking or even talking to you first.
Men: if you see one of your friends being inappropriate, encourage them to be better. Remind them that there are real consequences for their actions. Challenge them. I know that it’s hard; I don’t pretend to sit here and preach as if it is easy. I am guilty of allowing misconduct to occur in front of me and I chose to be silent because it’s easier to be silent than it is to challenge a stranger or get involved in a situation with a teammate, classmate, or peer.
The overarching point that I’m trying to make here is that if your way of initiating a sexual encounter with someone isn’t something that you’d do in Commons, while sober, or anywhere else on campus in daylight, then odds are it isn’t something that you should be doing. I don’t think that this is new information; as I mentioned before I think that the majority of Hamilton students are incredibly cognizant. I posit that the combination of substance abuse and repeated reinforcement of a specific kind of culture at the Village Tavern is incredibly problematic and an issue that we must address. This is not the onus of the administration; it is on us to change how we treat each other. It is on the students to hold their friends, teammates, and peers accountable. It is on me and it’s on you, and I fervently believe that we can, and must, make this change.
