Posts Tagged campus policy

By Sarah • 13 years ago

Cal Poly and the University of Hawaii Petition for Better Policies

Petitions can be a great tool to show the strength (in numbers!) behind your campaign. During SAAM, I highlighted a couple of Change.org petitions that were focused on campus sexual assault policies. This week I was alerted to another, this time from the community at California Polytechnic, where three rapes have been reported just this May. Two of the rapes were reported in the same dorm, and one at a frat party.

The Cal Poly petition has a lot of great stuff in it (and we were so thrilled to see that they cited our Change Happens Manual as a resource).The writers are calling for ten main improvements to how the ...

Petitions can be a great tool to show the strength (in numbers!) behind your campaign. During SAAM, I highlighted a couple of Change.org petitions that were focused on campus sexual assault policies. This week I was ...
By Sarah • 13 years ago

Take Note Universities: UVA is Paving the Way

A little behind on this, but it’s still noteworthy and extremely important. Although a number of schools have started to make minor changes to their sexual misconduct policies in light of the OCR’s Dear Colleague Letter, the University of Virginia is the first to really do a full re-vamp (because they had started the process a few months before). On May 4th they released their revisions, and are having a public comment period that lasts until May 20. SAFER recently held a training down at UVA thanks to our former ED, Margaret, and we know those students are hard at work getting their comments together.

But a lot of these changes seem ...

A little behind on this, but it’s still noteworthy and extremely important. Although a number of schools have started to make minor changes to their sexual misconduct policies in light of the OCR’s Dear Colleague ...
By Sarah • 13 years ago

Campus Sexual Assault Activism: Link Overload

I can’t even wrap my head around everything that’s going on right now. So many students doing awesome work, and in the midst of it all SAFER has endorsed the Campus SaVE Act (more on that soon). It looks like Sexual Assault Activism Month is going to end on a number of high notes. Just look at all of this:

Washington University, Stanford University, Brandeis, and Swarthmore all made policy changes in light of the OCR “Dear Colleague” letter, sparking some campus dialogue on the issue. UMass and the University of Vermont are making some important changes as well.

After three years of investigating, student journalists at the University of ...

I can’t even wrap my head around everything that’s going on right now. So many students doing awesome work, and in the midst of it all SAFER has endorsed the Campus SaVE Act (more on ...
By Chloe Angyal • 13 years ago

Caitlin Flanagan calls for the end of fraternities

This weekend, the Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed by Caitlin Flanagan, in which she discussed the appallingly high incidence of sexual violence perpetrated by fraternity brothers, and called for the dissolution of fraternities “for young women’s good.”

I was surprised to find myself agreeing with Flanagan at certain points in this article. I usually take issue with the way she writes about young women and sex, but in this case, I think we see eye to eye on a number of points.

She’s certainly correct in her belief that fraternities can breed a noxious, violent culture in which young masculinity is measured in pitchers consumed and women fucked. And she’s certainly correct that fraternities can be dangerous places for ...

This weekend, the Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed by Caitlin Flanagan, in which she discussed the appallingly high incidence of sexual violence perpetrated by fraternity brothers, and called for the dissolution of fraternities “for young ...
By Sarah • 13 years ago

New Campus Sexual Assault OCR Guidance and the Biden Speech Recap

As you probably know by now, on Monday the Obama Administration and Office of Civil Rights released new “regulatory guidance on how colleges and universities must respond to campus sexual assaults.” NPR does a great job of breaking down the doc’s main points.

It’s a 19 page document that I’m not going to do a full analysis of right now. But I would like to highlight the fact that this really clarifies the difference between the criminal justice system’s responsibility to investigate rape and a campus’s responsibility. We hear a lot of criticism that schools have no place getting involved in rape cases, that it’s best left to the criminal justice system. But ...

As you probably know by now, on Monday the Obama Administration and Office of Civil Rights released new “regulatory guidance on how colleges and universities must respond to campus sexual assaults.” NPR does a great ...
By Sarah • 13 years ago

The Importance of Amnesty Policies: One Survivor Speaks Out

This was posted originally by SAFER Communications Co-Coordinator Megan at Change Happens

One of the great things about social media is the way that, to a certain extent, it has democratized public conversations. I think this is especially true when it comes to experiences that are hidden or marginalized, such as sexual assault or the decision to choose abortion. For this reason, I’m always happy and excited to spotlight the voices of the people who are most directly impacted by campus policy reform or lack thereof.

About a month ago, Avanti published an excellent post on the dearth of amnesty policies at colleges across the U.S. She found that merely 7% of the ...

This was posted originally by SAFER Communications Co-Coordinator Megan at Change Happens

One of the great things about social media is the way that, to a certain extent, it has democratized public conversations. I think this ...
By Sarah • 13 years ago

Critic’s Pick: Sexual Assault Policies and LGBTQ-Inclusive Language

This post was written by SAFER’s awesome intern Avanti and originally published at Change Happens

After thinking about what consent means for people with disabilities, I want to explore other often marginalized identities and discuss how campus sexual assault policies use (or don’t use) lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer transgender and gender non-conforming inclusive language.

Let’s begin with some unfortunate news: I’ve searched a heck of a lot of these policies, and I have only found ONE that explicitly mentions LGBTQ people. Recently reviewing a student submission, I came across this statement in University of Akron’s policy:

Sexual misconduct and sexual assault is a serious crime that can affect men and women, whether gay, straight, ...

This post was written by SAFER’s awesome intern Avanti and originally published at Change Happens

After thinking about what consent means for people with disabilities, I want to explore other often marginalized identities and discuss how ...
By Sarah • 13 years ago

Dickinson College Protests Make Waves (and make the news!)

On Thursday I briefly mentioned the protests going on at Dickinson College, but by Friday the protesting students were getting some major coverage! Both Jezebel and Philly.com ran stories about the students’ demands, which include:

1. Full transparency of the sexual misconduct policy process
2. The Department of Public Safety must send red alerts to the whole campus when sexual assault or rape is reported
3. A stronger administrative stance against sexual assault and rape
4. Expulsion must be the protocol for students found guilty of rape and sexual assault
5. Focus on creating a proactive education-based sexual violence prevention program
6. Specific plans and dates for concrete changes

Perhaps even more inspiring and exciting to read ...

On Thursday I briefly mentioned the protests going on at Dickinson College, but by Friday the protesting students were getting some major coverage! Both Jezebel and Philly.com ran stories about the students’ ...

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