Led by seniors Cerena Karmaliani and Serene Kalugdan, Students Against Sexual Harassment has been collaborating with administration on the school’s sexual harassment policy over the past year. The Feb. 25 assembly covered details on the school’s policy, presented consequences and prompted students to discuss potential scenarios. At the end, Karmaliani pointed the audience toward resources from a conference SASH members attended.
The idea for the group has been in progress since last year, when three students, including Kalugdan and Karmaliani, attended a summit in Washington, D.C. The summit, alongside discussions in the Upper School Council and a previous senior project, helped them realize the benefits of having a club to lead conversation on the subject.

“Going to the summit, going and leading assemblies…feels like a really important process for restoring a community or making a community stronger,” Karmaliani said.

SASH hoped to attend the summit in Georgetown again this year but went to a local conference at the Sexual Violence Center instead due to budget reasons.

“We want [to attend] one summit with the outside community because sexual assault and harassment isn’t a community-specific problem; it’s a broader problem,” Kalugdan said.

While the content was aimed toward adults, Kalugdan and Karmaliani found the experience rewarding as it allowed students to interact with those outside their immediate circle.

“All of those hyperlinked resources that are available on those slides [were] given to us [at] the Sexual Violence Center, by people we met… we genuinely made connections with all of these communities and people,” Karmaliani said. SASH hopes that the club will hold assemblies and attend summits yearly.

As SASH noticed many students approaching the club with questions, Kalugdan and Karmaliani decided to plan the assembly around establishing clarity on SPA’s sexual harassment policy and the school support system.

“We hope that students can continue to go up to the leaders of SASH and confide in them, and also have somebody like the two of us, where they can go up to the Dean or go up to a counselor and have that support system at school,” Karmaliani said.

Looking ahead, SASH plans to extend its impact into the LS and MS, working alongside established wellness curriculums. One goal involves extending support among male-identifying students. “Something that I’m excited for, but is also really hard, is that this is the beginning of SASH. I’m excited that this is the beginning that everybody’s excited about, but it also is really hard because we’re just doing the small steps in the beginning,” Kaludgan said.

As a new club this year, SASH will continue to work on spreading education and awareness in the future. The group welcomes all students to meet in the debate room during club days.