I am writing, finally, out of frustration. Last year I worked on the sexual assault survey in the fall and, as a result, on the working group panel in the spring. Since I helped create the survey, I was one of the people who read through the 241 anonymous, confidential responses. The patterns were obvious and glaring. Students were confused on the University’s policies and, more to the heart of the matter, dissatisfied with what they had experienced.
A few of us spent most of the spring attempting to set in motion some changes based on the most common student complaints—the lack of specifically trauma response-trained Office of Behavioral Health for Students (OBHS) staff, the Student Judiciary Board (SJB) handling sexual assault cases and an overall attitude on campus and in the administration that did not match what students needed.
While our attempts were not entirely denied, the opposite has clearly not been the case either. The students in the working group had offered several ideas to the panel—a student-run but University-supported response team, posters in bathrooms and other public places displaying contact and emergency response information, overhauling the SJB protocol when reviewing cases of sexual assault and filling the position that was open last semester in OBHS with someone who was trained in trauma.
I am disheartened to find that these steps have not been taken. Moreover, I am afraid the administration’s response will not radically change until there is a fundamental change in attitude.
There must be a culture of understanding the importance of sexual assault as a community issue before all of the work so many students and some members of the administration have dedicated so much to will be truly appreciated.
Sexual violence is not a “problem” to be dealt with and muddled through by the survivor. Our community needs to commit to fostering a healthier approach. Obviously it doesn’t work when the administration is absent from that process.
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