New SARP Director Nathan Brewer on How a Pandemic and Betsy DeVos’ Changes for Sexual Misconduct Hearings Will Make Survivors’ Lives Harder
Nathan Brewer says COVID-19 and the Trump administration will make sexual misconduct survivors’ lives worse—and his work harder. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi
Pandemic Has Led to a Dramatic Increase in Students Seeking Help Says BU’s New Sexual Assault Response & Prevention Center Director
Tonight’s Sex during COVID-19 event will answer students’ questions, virtually
One question many college students have been asking for the past six months: Can you get coronavirus from sexual intercourse? At tonight’s Sex during COVID-19 event, your questions will be answered, virtually, from 7 to 8:15 pm. The registration-required forum is another reminder of the multipurpose mission of BU’s Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Center (SARP), which provides help, education, and advocacy to rape and sexual trauma survivors and is cosponsoring the event.
Student worries about pandemic sex is only one challenge facing Nathan Brewer, SARP’s new director. The center’s caseload spiked last month, he says, as the stresses of life under COVID-19 and the availability of tele-counseling drove more Terriers to seek help. Meanwhile, changes to federal Title IX rules from US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos could have the opposite effect: by requiring universities to permit live hearings and cross-examination of witnesses during sexual misconduct hearings, Brewer says, DeVos might discourage some survivors from coming forward. (DeVos cites due process for the accused in making the changes.)
All of which adds up to a demanding fall for SARP and Brewer, who took over this summer after center founding director Maureen Mahoney retired. Brewer brings to the job seven years of experience as a SARP counselor, plus academic grounding: he’s studying for a PhD in social work at Simmons University, focusing his dissertation on dating violence among young people. He discussed the challenges ahead with BU Today.
Q&A
With Nathan Brewer
BU Today: With fewer students at BU under Learn from Anywhere, might the campus be safer this fall?
Brewer: Unfortunately, since the onset of COVID and quarantine, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of students requesting services from SARP. In August 2019, we had two new clients, whereas in August 2020, we had eight. Last August, we had 7 after-hours crisis calls; this August we had 29, nearly one a day for the month. We also saw the number of counseling sessions increase from 60 in August 2019 to 107 in August 2020. The latter figure is also likely a reflection of telehealth, which has allowed us to continue working with students who would normally go to a counselor near their home for the summer.
This [caseload increase] is in line with research that shows that rates of interpersonal violence, particularly dating violence, have increased since the quarantine orders started in the spring. This increase is likely due to people being trapped inside for long periods with abusive partners and family, as well as violence erupting from COVID-distressed loved ones.
We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of students requesting services from SARP
What new initiatives for SARP are on your to-do list for the coming semester?
Both COVID and changes to Title IX rules have challenged our program.
The inability to meet with students in person has changed our approach. Our prevention program administrator, Ashley Slay, has adapted programming to be fully online, including our bystander intervention training, and Interrupt, an interactive training for graduate students to interrupt sexual harassment. The SARP counselors have also seamlessly migrated to telehealth across the country and the world. We also have updated our services to incorporate COVID content. For instance, we have collaborated with Student Health Services Wellness & Prevention on tonight’s Sex during COVID-19. We are thankful that the pandemic has not directly impacted the SARP budget. We see this as a commitment from the BU administration toward the health and well-being of the community.
The changes to Title IX guidance will negatively impact survivors of violence at BU. We expect the rules regarding live hearings and cross-examination to have a chilling effect on reports to the University. This is something other schools have identified following similar changes to their sexual misconduct reporting policies. SARP continues to provide accurate, timely information to students. We strongly encourage students to speak with a SARP counselor to better understand the University’s sexual misconduct policy.
Finally, I would say a goal for this year is to raise awareness of sexual misconduct that isn’t sexual assault. SARP works with survivors of many types of interpersonal violence, including dating violence, stalking, and sexual harassment/exploitation. These issues don’t get quite as much publicity and attention as sexual assault. Yet adolescents and emerging adults are known to have high rates of all these types of violence. A recent study authored by Emily Rothman in the School of Public Health points to stalking and harassment, particularly by romantic partners. Both are often related to technology—something that might be worsened by our reliance on tech during the pandemic.
The national conversation about racism also points to the intersection of race and violence, including the disparity in rates of interpersonal violence for students of color, particularly Black students. We at SARP believe we can only begin to understand interpersonal violence if it is put in the context of intersectional oppression, including sexism and racism.
You’ve worked with survivors of sexual assault as a SARP counselor. How does that inform your view of the program’s importance?
While I am excited about my new administrative role at SARP, it has been bittersweet to say goodbye to my clients, some of whom I have worked with for many years. Many of these students have graduated; others have ended with me because they met their goals; still others have transitioned to working with my SARP colleagues. But I cherish the time I had with them on their healing journey and am humbled by their willingness to share some of their most trying times with me. I will forever be in awe of their unique demonstration of strength and resilience.
Sex during COVID-19 is tonight, Tuesday, September 8, virtually, from 7 to 8:15 pm. Register here.
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