By GABBY WILSON
STAFF WRITER
As sexual assault on college campuses has become more prominent in the media, the SLU Advocates group has been working to improve awareness about sexual assault on campus and present the resources available to students who are affected by it. Although reported incidences of sexual assault are collected by the Clery Statistics on the SLU Safety & Security website, there are many incidences of sexual assault that are informally reported through the sexual violence hotline. SLU Advocates is a group of students that provide a hotline as a resource for survivors of sexual assault and aim to create awareness among the student body and faculty. In addition, they provide a survivor-oriented process for individuals who want to informally report sexual assault but do not want to go directly to the school administration.
The Advocates provide a variety of options for the survivor who wants to take action after being involved in a sexual assault. Most individuals use the hotline to informally report an event of sexual assault or to ask about other resources available. If the individual is not comfortable making a complaint directly to the administration, the survivor can have an Advocate make an informal complaint and ensure that the survivor’s information remains confidential.
Devon Gulbrandsen ’15, the co-president of the Advocates group, explains, “There’s a lot of misconception about the confidentiality involved in a report. The Advocate makes sure to maintain the survivor’s confidentiality if they do not want their name to be released and act as a strong support system throughout the process because it can be really scary to go through it alone.” Other options include a visit to a nurse at the Canton-Potsdam hospital for a rape kit assessment in addition to many counseling resources. The survivor also has the option to go to the Canton police, where a member of the Advocates can direct them to complete the correct process for a police report.
If an informal complaint is made, appropriate action will be taken so that the sexual assault survivor does not have to interact with the individual who committed the assault. The administration works with the survivor to help avoid interactions with the perpetrator, which is achieved through a no contact order. A no contact order removes the perpetrator from a specific class, dorm, or study abroad program that the survivor is also involved in.
Although the administration is willing to work with the student, there are no specific mechanisms used by the school to enforce the no contact order. Gulbrandsen said, “SLU is a small campus and people run into each other on a regular basis, so the informal complaints aren’t being enforced at all times.” However, if a perpetrator violates the no contact order three times, they will be suspended from the school and further action will be taken. The school administration will continue to work with the Advocates to improve the ways in which the no contact order is enforced.
Each member of the Advocates group that assists a survivor of sexual assault must be trained through the SLU Aware Training, which occurs each semester. This is a weekend long training session that teaches members about consent and the clear definitions of sexual assault and rape. In addition, they are taught about how to appropriately assist a person who is a survivor of sexual assault. Members of the SLU faculty and ad