According to the U.S. Department of Justice, one in five women will be sexually assaulted while at college. For the new Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) intern Liz Krushnic ’10, this fact underscores the necessity of her position to serve as a centralized campus resource on sexual assault. Krushnic, a Feminine, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (FGSS) major, sat down with The Argus in her office at 190 High St. to discuss her work and the campus resources available to students who have experienced sexual assault.
Argus: As the SART intern, what does your position entail?
Liz Krushnic: One of the main functions of the position is to serve as a liaison between students who have any needs or questions with regard to sexual violence and the on- and off-campus resources that can help them. I hold office hours so that students can come to me if they have any questions or needs. My office hours are Monday 4-6, Tuesday 1:30-6, and Thursday 4:30-6 at 190 High St. in Room 104. Another thing that started recently was a student group, tentatively called the Students for Communication and Consent, which focuses on issues of sexual violence on campus. I also get myself involved with anything on campus that relates to sexual violence prevention and response.
A: What types of resources are available to students on campus if they experience sexual violence?
LK: For example, if a student is sexually assaulted and lives on the same hall as the person who sexually assaulted them, they may want to change their living situation. So through ResLife [Residential Life], you always have the option of changing residences and they are incredibly helpful. If you would rather that the perpetrator move, then you need to go through the SJB [Student Judicial Board] process because the perpetrator needs to be sanctioned before they can be made to move. That’s another thing—reporting. There are a variety of options about what sanctions can be given and if you want to do it anonymously or with names. There is an administrative panel that hears these cases, unlike other student panels that are student-run. Other services include OBHS [Office of Behavioral Health], health services, and getting tested. If a student has been sexually assaulted, on or off campus, the health center will cover the cost of STI testing, prophylactics, emergency contraception, commonly referred to as the Day After Pill, and any treatment that would follow testing. And the student doesn’t have to give any proof of the assault. If someone is having trouble in their classes, then you can meet with your Dean and professors and work something out, as you have no obligation to continue working as otherwise required. Additionally, there is the SART Team, a group of administrators from different parts of the University who all received training last spring so that they can be better equipped for the situation if a student approaches them about having experienced some form of sexual violence. The SART administrators haven’t been meeting as a cohesive group, but I’m hoping the Team will have more ongoing trainings and meetings in future years.
A: As this is the first year of the SART internship, what major obstacles have you faced?
LK: Since it’s the first year, it’s definitely a growing position and the function and role of the position are developing as the year goes along. The biggest obstacle has been getting a space so I can hold office hours, which is one of the functions that I’m supposed to be serving. Here we are in the office, but I’ve only been here for about two weeks and I’ve had this job all year long. That was a really huge obstacle because it was really hard to be a resource when I couldn’t advertise how to find me. But, now that the office does exist, it’s really wonderful. The hope is that it will be a name that people know. Just as there are certain student groups and offices that have been ingrained in the institution, the hope is that during freshman orientation you hear about SART, just by being a student here you hear about SART, and you know you can go to 190 High St. and that is where the office is and talk to Liz or whoever the intern is.
A: How did the idea for the SART Intern position develop?
LK: FemNet [Feminist Network] conducted a survey in Fall 2007 and one of the needs that we identified through the survey and through talking about the issues was that there wasn’t a centralized response; there wasn’t one person who students could recognize on campus as the go-to person whose main responsibility it is to be this contact person. Students saw a need for both a staff person and a student to fulfill these roles to give students the most options for what would be comfortable for them. However, getting a sexual assault advocate or staff person whose primary job is to be in charge of anything that relates to sexual violence is a huge undertaking and requires a lot of funding, so that was too big of a short term goal. But what did come out of a lot of hard work by some administrators and students was the student intern position, which was a really great step forward. As a student who does not have professional training on these things, however, it’s still really important to have a staff person whose job it is to be involved in all these things. We are hoping that the new WesWell hire to replace Lisa Currie who left this fall will be able to be serve that function.
A: What further on-campus changes would the student group like to see to how the University responds to sexual assault?
LK: One thing we want to do is to hire a consultant to come and assess the University resources regarding sexual violence to get the opinion of a trained professional who knows the way other universities handle these things and knows how to better organize the University’s resources. Also, the group thinks it is really important for there to be an online anonymous reporting option, which there currently is not. For example, the Clery Act mandates that a university keep record of all reported sexual assaults and Wesleyan does that. According to Public Safety’s records, one “forcible sex offense” was committed each year in 2006, 2007, and 2008. In the FemNet survey, 29 people who took the survey, which was a little less than a tenth of the student body, said that they had been sexually assaulted while a Wesleyan student. Rape and sexual assault are always highly underreported; however, this large discrepancy shows a clear need for better reporting options and we see no reason why there shouldn’t be the option for anonymous reporting. We are also working to create informational booklets to distribute to students during orientation, as well as to create sex-positive workshops that talk about healthy communication and consent. That means not just talking about sex that goes wrong but how to make sex great. Talking about healthy sex is one of the most important kinds of prevention.
Applications for the SART internship are due by April 16. Students interested in the position or in these issues should contact Liz Krushnic at ekrushnic@wesleyan.edu.