ATLANTA -- The torrent of claims against high-profile men in entertainment, media and politics is now spreading across academia, re-energizing the outcry over sexual misconduct on U.S. campuses and bringing forth a new wave of complaints.
Colleges large and small have fielded reports against students and professors. Some schools said they had begun strengthening anti-harassment policies. Lawyers who represent victims say they have been flooded with calls.
The issue is far from new at U.S. colleges; complaints about how they handle sexual misconduct have been going on for so long they have generated a backlash. While many women said colleges had not been taking assault complaints seriously, some schools were criticized for overreacting, and in September, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced she was revising government policy to, among other things, give accused students more rights.
In Atlanta, the issue is gripping two campuses, and exposed a deep fissure between schools closely linked by history and geography.
In early November, fliers were scattered among golden leaves on the grounds of Spelman and Morehouse, the side-by-side women's and men's colleges that are two of the country's most celebrated historically black schools.
"Morehouse Protects Rapists," some of them read. "Spelman Protects Rapists."
Some of the documents accused prominent athletes and fraternity members by name.
Though workers quickly made the fliers disappear, students were already passing photos from cellphone to cellphone. Before long, the names were on Twitter.
And the next morning, students at Morehouse woke up to another unnerving sight: graffiti marring the chapel, a spiritual gathering place dedicated to a revered alumnus, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Scrawled in red spray paint, the message read: "Practice What You Preach Morehouse + End Rape Culture."
Neither Spelman nor Morehouse would disclose how many complaints it has received, and in interviews, Spelman students and professors said they did not believe sexual assault was any more common there than elsewhere.
But most said they believed the colleges had not been taking the issue seriously enough. Now their pent-up frustration has burst into the open during a national moment of reckoning.
In a three-minute speech Nov. 9, the day the graffiti was found on the King chapel, Harold Martin Jr., the interim president of Morehouse, said there was "clearly a belief that there is a population that does not feel heard."
"We will do the work," he said, encouraging victims to come forward. Almost all of the names on Twitter had been posted anonymously. "Nobody has come by my office, but I hope you will."
The issue was particularly painful for Spelman students, who spoke of a shared legacy with Morehouse that gave them great pride and, they said, could be perversely discouraging victims from coming forward or assailants from being punished.
The institutions were founded more than 130 years ago, when black students were all but barred from most U.S. colleges. Their students have included some prominent figures, including King; novelist Alice Walker; Marian Wright Edelman, the founder of the Children's Defense Fund; and filmmaker Spike Lee.
Spelman and Morehouse students also have deep emotional connections. A Spelman freshman often pairs up with a Morehouse freshman as "sister" and "brother" who are encouraged to support each other during their college careers.
The students also are steeped in black history, and many Spelman women said they felt a responsibility to protect black men from negative stereotypes.
"Having your brother's back or your sister's back, that's something that's said," said Euphoria Davis, a 21-year-old senior. "I've had someone tell me to my face that I'm tarnishing the reputation of Morehouse by speaking out."
Students also described practical barriers to adjudicating sexual assault. The porous boundaries that allow students to mill back and forth between the two campuses to study and socialize are not mirrored in the way that the schools are governed. Numerous Spelman women said that because complaints against Morehouse men were investigated by Morehouse, they did not expect fair treatment.
At Morehouse, reaction to the campaign was mixed. Isaiah Smalls, editor of The Maroon Tiger, the campus newspaper, said he planned an entire issue on sexual assault. "I believe that as a campus, we're not as educated as we should be," he said.
But an angry backlash emerged from some on the campus, who called the public accusations reckless and said that at least some were untrue.
"I was devastated," said one of the students named on Twitter. "I felt the energy that I had gained up to that point being drained out of me."
The student, who asked that his name not be published, said he had sex with a Spelman student during his first semester after receiving her consent. She later accused him of assault.
In his speech, Martin, the Morehouse interim president, said that anyone who committed sexual violence or harassment would be held accountable. He also cautioned against "jumping to judgment" about students who were accused.
He ended with an admonition. "It's also going to be the last time that anybody defaces the chapel on our campus," he said. "But we will do the work on this important issue. Is that clear?"
A Section on 12/03/2017