In the past year, two staff members responsible for providing students with sexual assault prevention and response resources have left the College. The Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) is now vacant. The College has failed to fill the gap created by these departures; instead, it delayed its hiring processes, outsourced resources, and decided to restructure related offices in a worrisome manner. Students now lack adequate support.  

Violence Prevention Coordinator Riley Kavanagh left the College on Friday and former Director of the Prevention, Education, and Advocacy in Community (PEACe) Office Meg Bossong ’05 — whose office oversaw SAPR — departed in May. Laini Sporbert, the interim director of the PEACe office, is now taking on the responsibilities of both Kavanagh’s and Bossong’s roles, in addition to her own as assistant director for health education. 

This situation was avoidable. Bossong first notified the College of her departure in January 2024, gradually reducing her hours over several months with the hopes of easing the process of finding her replacement and ensuring that there would not be a disruption in services. But the job posting for her role was not created until September, and Vice President for Institutional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leticia S.E. Haynes ’99 told the Record that the search committee will only begin reviewing applicant materials in the coming days. 

In emails with the Record, Dean of the College Gretchen Long attributed the hiring delays to two factors: the transition to the HR platform Workday, which has caused hiring issues throughout the College, and the decision to restructure the offices that handle sexual assault prevention and response. But these are not adequate excuses: The College had a responsibility to hire a replacement for Bossong as soon as possible, and its failure to fill Bossong’s and Kavanagh’s vacancies leaves students without the support they need.  

Long sent an email to students on Oct. 31 — the day before Kavanagh’s departure — directing students needing support to the Elizabeth Freeman Center (EFC), a local sexual and domestic violence resource organization. While the EFC is an important resource for thousands of people throughout Berkshire County, an external organization cannot adequately replace SAPR, which provided students with support informed by its familiarity with the College. Though Long told the Record that the College has partnered with the EFC for temporary support during past short-term vacancies, this solution is insufficient and leaves students without adequate resources. 

In her email, Long specifically instructed students seeking resources to call the EFC’s hotline directly — but she did not explicitly inform them that the College’s hotline had been shut down. The College’s confidential hotline was previously staffed by SAPR during business hours on weekdays and answered by the EFC at all other times. Now, however, the College’s hotline has been effectively discontinued due to staffing shortages. The lack of clear communication about the absence of resources at the College is unacceptable.  

Once Bossong’s replacement is hired, the College plans to replace SAPR with a new Office of Intimate Violence Prevention and Response (OIVPR). The dean’s office currently supervises the PEACe office and SAPR, but once created, OIVPR will fall under the purview of the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (OIDEI), which also oversees the Title IX office. 

OIVPR is primarily intended to support survivors. On the other hand, the Title IX office is primarily tasked with efforts to ensure the College complies with the Title IX complaint process, as dictated by the law. 

In the past, students have used SAPR as a resource when they have felt inadequately supported by the College’s Title IX office, as evidenced by recent Record reporting on allegations of Clery Act violations at the College. If the offices are led by the same individual, students will lose access to a resource dedicated solely to supporting them in the face of challenges with the Title IX process. 

Sexual assault prevention and response staff are vital to students’ safety, and the vacuum created in their absences leaves our campus egregiously underserved. The College must act promptly to support its students.

This editorial represents the opinion of the majority of the board members present at the time of an editorial vote. 

Assenting votes: 13

Dissenting votes: 0 

Abstaining votes: 1