[TRANSCRIPT]

Kriston Pumphrey

WASHINGTON, DC – A video posted on Facebook by Gallaudet student Mauri Lynn in late April has sparked a flurry of discussion among students and faculty about sexual violence on Gallaudet’s campus. In this video, Lynn drew attention to an “underground fraternity” named HOEZ. She stated that this group was formed by more than 20 male students as a competition to have as many sexual partners as possible.
MAURI J. LYNN
These guys actually set up that group to see how many people they can rape. The Deaf community is already so small, and now they’re willing further the pain of Deaf people.
Three days after Lynn’s video post, Gallaudet President Bobbi Cordano released this response:
BOBBI CORDANO
“Violence against women, children - all people - may take on different names or faces at different points in our life, but the behavior remains the same. As your president, I will make one thing clear: this is not the culture of Gallaudet.”]
Alongside Cordano’s video response, Gallaudet’s Counseling and Psychological Services and Residence Life and Housing both co-hosted several open discussions of “strategies to empower our community to endorse healthy attitudes, prevent sexual misconduct, and provide support to those who have these experiences.”
Other efforts to combat sexual violence on campus include Green Dot training sessions. Green Dot is a national bystander-intervention program that teaches how to intervene in situations involving dating violence or domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Gallaudet’s implementation of these training sessions drew praise from the Department of Justice in 2014.
Gallaudet also regularly hosts events during April to recognize Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
However, it is not yet clear if these efforts alone are enough to undo any deeply-rooted disregard for sexual violence that may exist in Gallaudet’s institutional culture.
Students continue to voice doubts about Gallaudet’s sincerity in protecting their safety. Lynn, in particular, criticized what she stated were unacceptable priorities in Gallaudet’s penalties for misconduct.
Gallaudet now has its own rape culture. If you pull a fire alarm as a prank, you get suspended from Gallaudet for 5 years and then you can return to campus. If you rape somebody, your punishment is 2 years.
In response to Lynn’s video, other students voiced concerns that reports of sexual violence were frequently disregarded by administration, that security cameras on campus were not properly maintained, and that students were told by Washington, DC police officers that reporting sexual violence to campus police would not be effective.
Anonymous sources within Gallaudet have also alleged that Gallaudet staff has been aware of HOEZ and similar activities for several years. These sources also stated that some students involved in HOEZ may have relatives within Gallaudet’s staff, raising questions about how impartial Gallaudet’s staff will be in taking disciplinary action.
On May 6th, James Carr uploaded a vlog onto Facebook explaining his involvement in the disciplinary board under the Judicial Affairs Office. He said his experience there was awful. At the time, the group consisted of himself and four other students. He admitted that the decision process was disappointing because as a result, one student with a great reputation was relieved of any severe punishment for an alleged rape, while the victim left Gallaudet.
JAMES CARR
Without a doubt, I saw favoritism amongst my peers. The vote was 4 to 1- them against me. As a result, they decided to let him go and he walked free. What he did was wrong. Period. He should have been suspended. But my peers chose not to do that to him, saying his future would be destroyed if that happened. They wanted to give him a second chance by letting him stay. I personally believe in second chances but for this particular situation, no way. The system needs to be fixed, he should have been kicked out. They were so preoccupied with not destroying this predator’s future. But what about the victon? They just dismissed it.
Two weeks later she left Gallaudet, and I never heard from her again.
The situation should have been handled properly by going to DC police. This kind of situation should not be handled by Gallaudet students, or anyone at Gallaudet for that matter. The issue of favoritism will cloud judgement, whereas the police will remain unbiased.
I hope Gallaudet changes their methods. This happened a few years ago, and still nothing about the system has changed.

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