To the Dartmouth Community,

The Casque and Gauntlet senior society would like to announce that we will be closed for social events on Friday, April 6th for the Night of Solidarity.

As an organization, we want to contribute in any way possible to uplifting and supporting survivors of sexual violence. By closing our space on this night, we are contributing to this public gesture of solidarity, but beyond this symbolic act, we are committed to finding other various ways to support sexual violence prevention efforts and to be supportive of survivors. We fully expect to be held accountable if we fail to uphold this commitment.

Furthermore, we pledge to consistently reflect on the ways our social events and space might perpetuate rape culture, and encourage the same kind of self-reflection amongst all students. In the 2017 Sexual Misconduct Survey<http://www.dartmouth.edu/~oir/2017_sms_results.html>, 99-100% of students report that they have never committed an act of sexual violence ( http://www.dartmouth.edu/~oir/2017_sms_results.html ). Clearly, not only do we as a campus have an issue with unacceptably high rates of violence, but we also have an issue of individual denial and fail to identify when we have committed these acts. How can we move forward without honestly questioning the role we might play in perpetuating harm? More importantly, how can we genuinely support survivors without validating that we have caused their harm?

C&G believes we all must put aside defensiveness and denial about the safety of our spaces and communities so that we may genuinely decrease rates of violence in our community.

We encourage any houses or groups participating to move past performativity and make sure there aren’t things they could already be doing to support survivors that they actively choose not to do. This includes removing perpetrators from their groups in a way that respects the agency of survivors involved.

Performing acts of solidarity are insufficient, but we ask that the community holds groups to the standards expressed in their emails, holding accountable those who have pledged to do better and who have promised to be receptive of critiques.

In solidarity,
Casque and Gauntlet