Dear University of Vermont,
We are the administrators of UVM Empowering Survivors (@shareyourstoryuvm). You might be wondering who we are and why we do what we do. The Instagram account Share Your Story UVM was created in April of 2021 after dozens of student survivors publicly shared their experiences with sexual violence and administrative betrayal at UVM. In the face of administrative inaction, Empowering Survivors offered people a place to tell their stories unapologetically. Now, two years later, the Empowering Survivors’ mission and urgency has remained unchanged.
As administrators, we keep our personal identities anonymous in order to amplify and center the voices of survivors, It Is Not About Us. Moreover, our anonymity ensures our personal safety and the safety of those who bravely choose to share their stories with us. We have received legal threats from students, parents, and their lawyers, public backlash from UVM administration, and countless hateful threats in our inbox. Now, after a six-month-long hiatus, a new team of admins has reactivated the account and taken over as the newest stewards of this space.
In less than two years, Empowering Survivors has received nearly 900 stories from survivors in the UVM community involving UVM Athletics, Fraternity and Sorority Life, Student Government, Residential Advisors, Alumni, incoming first-years, and on, and on, and on. The one commonality amongst them all is a university administration that relentlessly continues to fail to implement effective prevention strategies, keep its students safe, and hold perpetrators accountable. At the time of us writing this, there is still a significant backlog of submissions waiting to be shared. When we, the new iteration of admin first logged on, we were taken aback by the sheer volume of submissions. We can say for certain that sexual violence is pervasive in every space on this campus.
The personal impact of not only having the knowledge of the abuse itself, but also knowing the institutional and personal betrayal that followed has deeply impacted us. Sometimes it feels like we have a third person, bird’s eye view of campus. It has changed the way we interact in our relationships with others, the school, and beyond. Witnessing the reactions of students on social media, hearing what our peers say in class, and receiving messages from friends and family of survivors and perpetrators is the uncomfortable reality of our role as administrators.
Recently, in response to ongoing student activism regarding the failure to appropriately address sexual misconduct, the university administration has implemented a “Student Advisory Council”, an FSL Sexual Violence Prevention Task Force, and hired Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Coordinator, Dr. Elliot Ruggles, who despite their high expertise, has a muzzle on them. The creation of various ineffective committees and roles on campus to address student concerns is not only a reflection of institutional performance but a gross mockery of the extent to which the issue of sexual violence persists on this campus.
Justice looks different for each survivor and for some, it may be suing the institutions that harmed them. On December 8th, 2022, three UVM survivors filed a lawsuit against the University for the way it grossly mishandled their sexual assaults. The radio silence and lack of acknowledgement from the administration was jarring but expected. The news stations that did choose to cover it, opted to decenter the survivors and focus on an accused abuser who isn’t even a named defendant. His name does not matter here. What does matter is that once again these survivors have been shadowed and minimized. What does matter is that these survivors have names. Their names matter here.
Justice for Kendall Ware.
Justice for Haley Sommer.
Justice for Syd Partin.
Justice for survivors who have come forward.
Justice for survivors who haven’t.
Justice for all survivors.
Dear University of Vermont, we must not succumb to the temptation of looking away. We as individuals have so much power to do so much more, more power than the administration wants us to think. Love your community enough to hold your friends accountable. When someone shares their story, believe them.
With Love and Solidarity,
UVM Empowering Survivors
