Laura Pezzini
lpezzini@mustangdaily.net
A complaint of sexually offensive activities in Sierra Madre Hall led to a recent investigation by Dean of Students Jean DeCosta in mid-October. The investigation concluded that any potential sexually offensive incidents were not carried out, and no reports of harassment were received.
Psychology senior Blake Williams brought attention to the issue through a letter to Sierra Madre residents, which he also sent to several Cal Poly Coordinators of Student Development, Mustang Daily and DeCosta. The letter described a controversial “game” in which some Sierra Madre residents were allegedly participating.
“It was recently brought to my attention that several members of Sierra Madre have created a disturbing “game” that at its core is sexually exploitative,” Williams wrote in the letter.
The rules of the game included points for when a male student “hooked up” with a female and disclosed the details to the rest of the group. They would then determine a score for the male based on the female’s attractiveness and the degree of sexual actions engaged in, according to the letter.
An investigation into the matter took place upon the release of this letter, DeCosta said.
“I got on the phone and said that this was something we needed to find out, and find out the validity of this story,” DeCosta said. “What I wanted to do was make sure that if other students felt as though they had been subjected to any sort of harassment, that they felt they had the resources to go and get help.”
The investigation, however, did not lead to any corrective action.
“It sounds like it was an idea which didn’t really get off the ground,” DeCosta said. “At this point no students have come forward to complain regarding the situation.”
According to some of the students involved in the “game,” the entire situation was a misunderstanding. Earth sciences freshman Cameron Gurley said it was talked about as a joke early in the year, but never enacted.
“As far as Sierra Madre tower two is concerned, no game was played that objectifies women,” Gurley said. “The idea of this game was talked about in the tower during WOW, but only in a light joking sense. No one was actually going to do it.”
Gurley’s dorm mates agreed, saying the game was actually brought up as part of a “mock fraternity” meant to ridicule fraternity rules.
“We created a fake fraternity as a joke and a way to get to know each other — someone brought it (the game) up and we wrote it down, but we took it down the next day and it was all just a joke,” mechanical engineering freshman BJ Yebisu said.
Psychology freshman Sodie Orr agreed.
“We all know that if that had taken place it would have been completely inappropriate and wrong,” Orr said. “What bothers me is that it was taken care of before we heard any negativity from anyone, and they went to the school before coming to us, so we didn’t get any chance to explain ourselves.”
The residents involved did, however, explain themselves in a response to Williams’ letter sent to Mustang Daily.
“Humor was intended, and most, if not all members, laughed at the notion of such a game and its existence. No intent was ever made on carrying this game out, keeping score, or anything of the such,” read the letter.
The release of the first letter by Williams prompted action on the part of University Housing and Safer, Cal Poly’s sexual assault and relationship violence prevention program. Safer gave a presentation to the men and women on the floor where the “game” allegedly took place.
“We agreed with housing that the appropriate way to go about it was to hold meetings with the men and women on that particular floor with representatives from the Safer program,” DeCosta said.
Safer Coordinator Christina Kaviani said the students in Sierra Madre were receptive, but seemed to take the situation somewhat lightly.
“They listened, they were totally respectful and grateful and thanked us for coming, but I think that they really didn’t feel like it was a problem,” Kaviani said. “We were kind of trying to bring it back to that even if it a joke, even if it was just a game, the implications for creating a game based on numbers for attractiveness and how far you go with someone isn’t funny.”
Gurley said the reaction to the meeting with Safer was mainly that of confusion.
“Every single person on the floor and every one of the girls on the second floor will agree that this game never happened,” Gurley said.