That Sort of Thing. All the Time.
Research by Jessy Randall Curator of Special Collections at Tutt Library, Colorado College.
Curated and designed by Briget Heidmous.
Colorado College. 2018
That Sort of Thing. All the Time. is an exhibition of findings from the Special Collections at Colorado College.
Women across the United States were fighting for the right to vote, there were no express laws against sexual harassment, assault or rape and Colorado College was gaining notoriety.
Under the direction of President William F. Slocum, Colorado College grew from a single building, Cutler Hall, to a sixteen-building campus, including extensive grounds. He was a well-connected, ambitious, and serial sexual assailant hiding behind his authority and power.
Housed in Tutt Library Special Collections (Colorado College) is a multi-volume chronology of the College, including extensive allegations against him. Named and anonymous woman identifying students, teachers, and wives of faculty came forward; naming his sexual apatite “insatiable”, detailing his violence against women. In early 1900, cultural and political constructs prohibited women from telling their stories with immediacy: the prospect of social alienation and lack of lawful recourse kept survivors and victims silent.*
In 2019 Colorado College ranked 92nd in the category America's Top Colleges by Forbes Magazine. Early institutional growth and financial stability, the foundations of The College, must be credited to the man. We are faced with the hard truths about the past injustice: Colorado College would not be the place it is today without the money and connections he brought to the college. With all systemic wrongs, there are prized opportunities to engage in processes of healing.
With that, the questions are posed: Can a wrong be righted? Can a wrong be healed? Is healing the same or different than righting a wrong?
In 2018 the Colorado College Board of Trustees voted to remove the man’s likeness and namesake from campus property.
* I’d like to address the sensitivity surrounding the terms “survivor” and “victim” with the reader directly: there is no correct way to classify a person who has been the recipient of abuse. With this commentary, I honor those who consider themselves both, either or something else entirely. In this lifetime, only you have the right to classify your pain. That Sort of Thing. All the Time. honors the resilience and fortitude of those who move forward after abuse.