Dissertation Defense Announcement Ed.D. Program: William Zarillo “From Betrayal to Activism: Student Mobilization and Sexual Violence at Rutgers University, 1970-2000”

Sexual violence has remained a persistent issue within higher education despite decades of
legislation, prevention initiatives, and institutional investment. While scholarship has
frequently examined campus sexual violence through a contemporary lens focused on policy and legal
frameworks, as well as prevention strategies and support services, less attention has been paid
to student efforts and activism related to sexual violence and to how universities’ responses have
shaped that activism over time. This historical study examines the relationships between student
activism and university responses to sexual violence at Rutgers University between 1970 and 2000.

Drawing upon the frameworks of institutional betrayal and social movement theory, this study
utilized archival research to examine student newspapers, institutional documents, organizational
records, photographs, oral histories, and local newspapers. Materials were housed within Rutgers
University Special Collections and Archives, the Office for Violence Prevention and Victim
Assistance (VPVA), Rutgers Oral History Archives, and a local New Brunswick digital newspaper
collection. The study explored how students understood institutional responses to sexual violence,
how those perceptions influenced mobilization, and how Rutgers responded to student demands
across three decades.

Findings demonstrate that student activism emerged not only in response to the persistence of
sexual violence, but also in response to institutional responses students perceived as inadequate,
dismissive, or absent. Experiences of institutional betrayal became catalysts for organizing,
advocacy, and demands for institutional accountability, ultimately contributing to the
professionalization of campus responses to sexual violence, including the establishment of Sexual
Assault Services in 1991, now known as the Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance.

This dissertation contributes to scholarship by applying institutional betrayal as a historical
framework to understand student activism and institutional change. It demonstrates how examining
institutional histories can deepen understandings of campus sexual violence, student activism, and
institutional responses while offering insights for colleges and universities seeking to engage
critically with their own histories in pursuit of institutional accountability, courage, and
change.