Hamilton College: Thought Reform of 'Pro-Rape' Male Freshmen

As part of an extended freshman orientation program, all first-year males were told that they must attend a lecture by Keith Edwards entitled "She Fears You." "She Fears You" is based on the theory that men need a "combined emotional and cognitive intervention" to reform their deeply ingrained rape-supportive beliefs about gender and sexuality. FIRE wrote President Joan H. Stewart to voice concern about this invasion of students' conscience, requesting that the event be made optional. FIRE received no reply, and two hours before the program began, Dean of Students Nancy Thompson restated that attendance at "She Fears You" was mandatory. Yet, the event apparently was made optional at the last moment, resulting in what one student described as a "mass exodus" from the auditorium. Hamilton College has failed to explain its actions against freedom of conscience and its suggestion that women at Hamilton College are unsafe because of the campus' "rape culture."