A student looking for support and appropriate medical attention following sexual assault should search beyond the walls of University Health Services (UHS) and away from most administrative support, say two Harvard undergraduate women who were assaulted last spring.

One woman, raped by Joshua M. Elster, Class of 2000, turned first to UHS. But when the College's counseling fell short of what she needed, she looked off campus for continued support.

The woman assaulted by D. Drew Douglas, also Class of 2000, originally contacted the peer counseling group Response. Upon their advice, she says she steered clear of UHS and headed to Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, whose rape crisis intervention center is among the best in the region.

Now, with the student-run Coalition Against Sexual Violence picking up their cause, the women have publicly criticized the University's support mechanisms. Together, they say they hope to change the resources available to Harvard students in times of crisis.

For the members of the Coalition, who came together following the Elster rape in February 1998, that means building a women's center, improving the Sexual Assault/Sexual Harassment (SASH) residential advising system, and offering round-the-clock counseling services.

Because the way things stand right now, they say, undergraduates who have been sexually assaulted turn away from Harvard just when they need the College's support the most.

Initial Contact

When the woman assaulted by Douglas first reported her attack, she says she quickly realized that UHS officials were not sufficiently trained to help her.

"The person I talked to who answered the phone at UHS at 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning had no idea how to deal with me--and there was, according to the voice on the phone, no one else around who could take my call," she wrote in an e-mail message.