The Middlebury Campus: "Great Sexpectations" Column
In 2015, Maddie Orcutt '16 (she/her/hers), launched a column called "Great Sexpectations." She facilitated student storytelling surrounding sex through the column. "My goal is simple: to create a space where Middlebury students can learn through the anonymous (s)experiences of their peers," Orcutt wrote in the inaugural column article. Consent was a key issue that the column aimed to tackle as a whole.
March 4, 2015
The Campus: "Middlebury: Where White Supremacists, but Not Survivors, Are Worthy of Free Speech"
After Dunn posted The List, they met with a campus judicial officer who requested the names and contact information of the people who had contacted Dunn with reports of sexual misconduct. Dunn refused. After returning from winter break (Dunn posted The List during finals week), the judicial officers informed them that they were facing official college discipline for violating college policy. Shortly thereafter, past and present Middlebury It Happens Here leaders, wrote an op/ed in solidarity with Dunn. The op/ed questioned why white supremacists (Charles Murray for example) had the right to free speech at Middlebury, but not survivors or women of color (Dunn and Addis Fouche-Channer among others).
Middlebury's It Happens Here team (alumni and students): Maddie Orcutt ('16), Jingyi Wu ('17), Luke Brown ('14), Michelle Peng ('15), Morgan Grady-Benson ('18), Katie Preston ('17), Kristina Johansson ('14), Taite Shomo ('20.5), Shariell Crosby ('16)
January 24, 2018
Campus Article: "Community Dinner on Sexual & Relationship Respect"
Maddie Orcutt '16 wrote this "Dear Editors" letter soon after she was named the first Director of Sexual and Relationship Respect (SRR) on the Middlebury SGA. This opinion piece introduces the role of SRR in student culture and announces an Atwater dinner that was co-hosted by JusTalks and It Happens Here to discuss issues of sexual and relationship respect at Middlebury.
Maddie Orcutt
January 20, 2016
Vermont Public Radio: "Video By Middlebury Students Calls For Better Handling Of Sexual Assault Cases"
This is the Vermont Public Radio coverage of the Middlebury Unmasked video. Their coverage includes the survivor experience of the Title IX process and institutional silencing, as well as Middlebury College's statement on the video.
NOTE: The link the original radio coverage and article is below if you want to listen
Mitch Wertlieb and Melody Bodette
March 31, 2015
The Campus: "Middlebury Unmasked Critiques Sexual Assault Policies in Video"
This Campus article covers the Middlebury Unmasked video, and the experience of survivors in the Title IX process at Middlebury. It also details the demands made by survivors in the video, and that they were working to create a new SGA position on Sexual and Relationship Respect.
Jenna Lifhits
April 22, 2015
NBC5 video coverage: "Campus members clash on how college deals with sex offenses"
This is the NBC5 video coverage of the Middlebury Unmasked video. It includes an interview with Middlebury student, survivor, and one of the producers of the video, Maddie Orcutt.
Hannah McDonald
March 31, 2015
NBC5 article: "Students express frustration with school policy in emotional video"
This is an NBC5 article covering the Middlebury Unmasked video. It includes both the perspective of those who produced the video, as well as Middlebury College's statement.
NOTE: The link to the original article is below
Hannah McDonald
March 31, 2015
Beyond the Green: "Dear Campus" article from Middlebury Unmasked producer Maddie Orcutt
This Dear Campus article by Maddie Orcutt '16 was published in Beyond The Green on April 12, 2015. Written shortly after the release of the Middlebury Unmasked video, Orcutt, one of the producers, writes about her experience of being a survivor and anti-sexual assault activist. She also discusses the negative impact of both student and institutional complicity.
NOTE: The link to the original post is below.
Maddie Orcutt
April 12, 2015
Link to Middlebury Unmasked Video
This is a link to the Middlebury Unmasked video-narrative project posted on YouTube on March 10, 2015. The video includes the voices and stories of Middlebury survivors, who hold cardboard cutouts of other student’s faces for the purpose of anonymity. These students discuss their negative experience of the Title IX process at Middlebury, and make demands to improve the system. The video was produced by Maddie Orcutt ’16 and Michelle Peng ’15.
Maddie Orcutt ’16 and Michelle Peng ’15
March 10, 2015
Maddie Orcutt Interview Recording
Maddie Orcutt
This is the audio recording of interview with Maddie Orcutt '16 (she/her/hers). Maddie was a Political Science and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies major. At Middlebury she was very involved with It Happens Here and helped to found The Director of Sexual and Relationship Respect position on the student government, among other feminist projects.
Maddie Orcutt and Elissa Asch
May 12, 2020