They meant to disrupt collegial discussion for something more important: recent accounts of acquaintance rape on campus. It was not only the two individuals accused of rape who were the targets of the students' rage that day.
It was the whole set of beliefs and norms that make violence and coerced sex an everyday possibility for women in our society.
Over the course of many late nights in the women's center, this group of feminists drew up a sexual-offense policy that would radically alter the nature of students' sexual interactions. The policy differed from most sexual-offense codes in some important ways.
First, it emphasized preventive education, requiring all students to attend workshops exploring the meaning of consent. Second, in contrast to traditional criminal-justice procedures, Antioch's policy sought to protect the accuser as well as the accused, through providing a formal system of supports for those who may have experienced harassment or rape.
The sexual-offense program established a group of "peer advocates" to provide education and counseling for their fellow students and a full-time "advocate," responsible for training the peer advocates and for coordinating the overall implementation of the policy. Finally, and most uniquely, the policy worked to define the "gray area" between consent and coercion.
