I'm a first year at Smith College and recently received this e-mail from a fellow student and was absolutely appalled by our school administration's treatment of this individual. I'm hoping any alumn Smithies or anyone else who wants to lend a voice to this woman can help to contact the school administration about this. I feel that domestic abuse is a very important issue and that my school is failing to take a feminist or even sympathetic stance towards the victim.
If you would like to help, spread the word or contact any of the people listed at the bottom of the letter!
"I am in the last weeks before my graduation from Smith College, and this
Friday the Judicial Board made the decision to evict me from student housing
on the grounds that I am responsible for the behavior of my husband. Under
our current code of conduct, the actions of a student’s guest are the
responsibility of the student who brought them to campus.
As many of you may know from the news or email, my husband was
recently arrested at our home in Conway House, which is Smith housing for
families with children. I filed a restraining order and signed a release
for Public Safety to search our apartment.
When I took a stand against my husband’s physical threats, verbal
abuse, and substance abuse problem, I knew that I would be giving up my
primary means of support. My children and I now have no income and no
vehicle, and their father is facing felony charges. And now I’m told that I
have a week to vacate my apartment.
I believe it is incredibly problematic for a feminist institution to
allow a woman and her young children to be defined and identified by, as
well as unduly punished for, the actions of her husband, especially when she
has taken a stance against those actions.
I did what I believed was right at the time. It has taken me months
to find the courage to take decisive action, and now Smith’s judicial
process has decided that the months I took to deliberate and explore my
options somehow negate the fact that I took action. In the course of these
events unfolding, I have been advised several times by well-meaning people
that I should lie. I was told to say “I don’t know” when asked about the
drugs and firearm my husband harbored in our space. I was told to pretend
that I just found out about these things so I might save myself from any
incrimination. But I refuse to lie. I will not feign ignorance when I know
the truth.
I hate to think about the precedent this sets for women who may find
themselves in a similar situation in the future. I hate to think that a
woman living in constant fear might choose to stay silent and endure because
she knows that I was evicted for speaking up “too late”. When I got the
decision from the Judicial Board, my first reaction was resignation. I was
ready to pack up and go home to Alabama. Then I thought, what happens if I
let this go? What happens if the women who come after me get the message
that it’s better to live dishonestly and in fear than to risk standing up?
What happens if the message that it’s better to create an illusion of
security wins out over the action needed to create genuine safety? What
happens to that woman’s sense of selfhood when she knows that the community
will define her by her partner’s choices instead of her own?
So I’m asking for your help. I only have a matter of days. In the
final weeks of my time here, my children need as much stability as possible
and I need the space to get back to the work I came to Smith to do. I’m
asking that anyone and everyone who might be on my side do one or more of
the following:
*Email President Carol Christ at cchrist@smith.edu, or call her
office
at (413) 585-2100.
*Email the Dean of Students, Julianne Ohotnicky, at
johotnic@smith.edu, or call her office at (413) 585-4940.
*Forward this email to others who might support me and my small
children.
With Sincere Gratitude,
Georgia Pearle"
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Smith College Turns a Deaf Ear to Domestic Threats of Violence Against Student.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/12803
Thank you for putting this up. I am a Smith Alum and a dv worker, and this pisses me the hell off. I will be contacting someone.
Hey, I am a DV advocate as well and I wrote emails to both parties. Please let us know if there's anything else we can do!
President Christ has recently been questioned on this and responded that the Judicial Board wrongfully informed Ms. Pearle that she must vacate so quickly. In fact, she is entitled to a minimum of four (4) weeks to find new housing.
That being said---Georgia Pearle, I am proud of your courage. If you need any help, let me know. I don't have much, but I will do what I can.
Sorry, but I agree with the College. Leaving aside entirely the eight garbage bags of pot and the hashish Pearle allowed her husband to keep at Conway House, she let him bring a rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition into their residence.
200 rounds of ammunition.
200 ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION.
That is more than enough for Eric Oyen to climb up into the clock tower at College Hall and do enough damage to join the likes of Charlie Whitman and Seung-Hui Cho. Bloodstains on Seelye Lawn, weeping students lighting candles and placing stuffed animals and bouquets on the steps of Neilson, seniors in black armbands at graduation, the national media descending, blowhards on Fox commenting that of *course* Smith was vulnerable because the little girls didn't have any big strong men to protect them...it's all too easy to visualize, and the mere possibility that it could have happened thanks to an AC's inaction freezes my marrow.
There are sins of omission and sins of commission. George Pearle is guilty of the former. Instead of sending out whining e-mails blaming everyone but herself, she needs to take responsibility and apologize to her housemates and the College. There are plenty of resources available for students and women in Hampshire County who face domestic violence. That she not only chose not to investigate these, but allowed her husband to endanger the school and her friends, is little short of appalling.