Student Counseling Programs More Effective When Separate

I’m writing in response to several points made in Emily Ingram’s recent op-ed (“Scribbles on the Door,” Feb. 27). While Ingram’s intent is clearly positive, her recommendations are not feasible or ideal for several reasons. Ingram proposes that all peer counseling groups be brought under the aegis of the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (OSAPR). The OSAPR is not a logical place to provide oversight to peer counseling groups that primarily focus on eating concerns (ECHO), sexual orientation/gender identity (CONTACT), general adjustment (Room 13), or contraception (PCC), which are distinct issues from helping students prevent or recover from an experience with sexual violence. The clinicians who supervise these groups are experts in their respective fields, and far more qualified to provide this oversight than we.

Secondly, to say the OSAPR does not conduct outreach education is simply fallacious. Last year, approximately 2,000 Harvard students and staff attended one or more of our educational events and programs, including 61 workshops each fall (one for every freshman entryway) and the annual performance of “Sex Signals.” Additionally, we work with each house’s Sexual Assault Sexual Harassment (SASH) team to conduct at least one educational outreach program per semester in every house. We have also partnered with numerous, diverse student organizations—like the Radcliffe Union of Students, the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Supporters Alliance (BGLTSA), the Harvard Foundation, the Association of Black Harvard Women, and Kappa Kappa Gamma—to cosponsor educational events and outreach. Our goal is to continually extend and improve our outreach to every Harvard College student.

Finally, the Bureau of Study Counsel is an excellent resource, but it does not, in fact, provide “free counseling to any Harvard affiliate.” It provides free counseling services and academic support to three schools only—Harvard College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Education, and the Kennedy School of Government. Harvard students and staff in other programs/departments are advised to seek counseling services at the University Health Services, which provides counseling to all students.

Despite Ingram’s misattribution of responsibility for the peer counseling groups, her goal of raising awareness about rape at Harvard is welcome. We invite Ingram, and any other interested student, to join our efforts by becoming a peer educator in the OSAPR or a member of their house’s SASH team. Together with these committed and talented supporters, we’re working every day for a Harvard free of sexual violence, and are always interested in new energy, insight, and ideas.

The writer is Director of the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response.