Zinn is a survivor of sexual assault. She was assaulted in her dorm room during her first week on campus at Sarah Lawrence College in 2012. Zinn said she was mistreated by the administration during the adjudication process.
Zinn was expelled from Sarah Lawrence after she attempted suicide in her dorm room. After proving she had not overdosed on illegal substances, but instead the medication the school had supplied her with, she was given forced indefinite medical leave with review.
A representative from Sarah Lawrence was unable to provide a comment at this time.
“Everyone heals from their trauma in different ways. For me, the only way I know how to heal is to do everything I can to prevent anyone else from having to go through what I did,” Zinn said.
In Zinn’s first semester at Lesley, she covered on-campus sexual assault and prevention for a social problems assignment she was given. Zinn presented on the topic.
Title IX guidelines state that a Coordinator should be employed for that sole position at a college. Lesley’s Dean of Student Life and Title IX Coordinator is Nathaniel Mays.
In spring of 2017, a resource on Lesley’s website about sexual assault prevention went viral among students when they discovered that it urged survivors to consider the consequences for the person being accused of the assault. Concerned students met to draft a petition, stating the changes they needed made at Lesley. After the petition received over 150 signatures, University President, Jeff Weiss, and Dean Mays met with Zinn. Mays suggested the creation of the Student Advisory Council on Sexual Assault.
Zinn has now given multiple lectures to freshman seminar courses and student-athletes on campus about consent and sexual assault prevention in a presentation called, “Prevention is Possible: A Conversation About Consent.” A job posting for a new Title IX Coordinator at Lesley is now available. Lesley also required students to complete a survey on sexual assault and consent practices in the 2017-2018 school year.
On May 3rd, the SACSA held a phone bank event in collaboration with the Every Voice Coalition, to raise awareness for two bills going to a vote in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, H.4159 and S.2203.
H.4159 is a bill that authorizes a legal mandate for Massachusetts colleges to create a campus climate survey. This allows students to anonymously report instances of sexual assault or harassment, and evaluate the safety of their school. S.2203 would strengthen some of the Title IX regulations as they pertain specifically to sexual assault, and create a confidentiality agreement between a disclosing student and the Title IX coordinator.
Lesley sophomore Matthew Murch was present for the SACSA’s phone bank.
The SACSA has met with and phoned Massachusetts legislators the past several weeks to gain support for this bill.
“The purpose of the phone bank was to organize targeted calls to Chairman Sanchez and Speaker DeLeo in the hopes of persuading them to allow the bills to be voted on. We need to convince Sanchez and DeLeo to make them a priority,” Zinn said.
“I hope that the Council’s stances and actions will inspire those committed to progress and safety to fight to make their voices heard and their actions felt, regardless of pressure or adversity, to ultimately shape a more fair and just society,” Murch said.
Support the SACSA’s petition here.
Learn more about the Every Voice Coalition.