campusassaultpolicyforum-blog

[campusassaultpolicyforum-blog]

The Way Forward: What New York Students Need to Know After a Sexual Assault

by Jacklynn Blanchard, Lauren Szczesny and Paige Allen

  In the wake of a sexual assault, survivors often feel disoriented. Your trust has been violated, and your feelings of safety have been stolen. There is a jarring sense of “before” and “after”, and the “after” can feel like a kind of purgatory in which the future has become menacingly uncertain. It is understandable that the prospect of opening up to a stranger about the intimate details of a fresh trauma—let alone undergoing a rape exam—may feel like too much to bear. As of late, the media and politicians have put out a lot of conflicting messages about sexual violence in America. Some survivors have been heralded as heroes like in the Larry Nassar case (Bieler, 2018), and some have been accused of lying and ruining the lives of innocent men by people like Betsy DeVos, the current Secretary of Education (DOE, 2017). The opinions of others, good or bad, can infiltrate our thought process and influence our decision-making. This can lead survivors not to report when they want to or to come forward before they’re ready. There is no right way to cope after a sexual assault, but you should be able to do so in a way that best serves you. If that way is to report your assault either to your school or to the police, this is what you need to know.

What to do if you need to report

Know your rights

In New York, the Students’ Bill of Rights covers all sexual violence, including domestic and dating violence. Importantly, these rights extend even to incidents that occurred off-campus. It also does not blame victims for not taking extreme steps to prevent their assault or escape their attacker. To avoid overwhelming victims, the number of institutional representatives and law enforcement officials that will be allowed to speak with you at a time is limited to as few as possible. Forcing you to recount your story to countless strangers could be retraumatizing. The Students’ Bill of Rights also provides the option to bring an advocate to the hospital and/or police station. An advocate is someone who can counsel you and provide emotional support throughout the process. To find out what your rights are, check out your school’s website or contact your Title IX Coordinator.

 Talk to someone

The Enough is Enough law in New York mandates training for all staff  “likely to receive a report (of sexual assault) in the requirements of the law” (Governor’s Press Office, 2015). If there is a staff or faculty member on campus that you trust, they should have been given training on how to handle a sexual assault report. At the very least, they should be able to direct you to appropriate resources like counseling or medical attention. At the University at Albany (UAlbany), this is called Sexual Assault & Violence Response (SAVR), but at your school it might have a different name. For more information, please speak with your school’s Title IX Coordinator.

 Get an advocate

Having a supportive person to confide in is important for the healing process. Unlike at most schools, students at UAlbany can go to the Advocacy Center for Sexual Violence for support and guidance. At the Advocacy Center, you will be greeted by the Director, Carol Stenger, to whom you can confidentially report. If you choose to move forward within the campus system, Carol directs you to the Title IX Office to make a formal statement. She can be your representative throughout the whole campus process, and she can also help with communicating with law enforcement if you want to go through the criminal process. Having an advocate like Carol who is willing to go the extra mile can have a transformative effect on student outcomes. Imagine if every campus had an advocacy center – the world might be a little bit brighter for survivors.

 When you’re ready, go to Title IX

It’s crucial to note that when a student reports to the Title IX coordinator, it is a formal and non-confidential statement. Title IX functions as an unbiased recorder, listening to your version of events without judgment. Title IX also takes reports from the accused party without judgment. These reports are submitted to the student discipline office for review and possibly for a hearing. As part of federal law, every school must have a Title IX coordinator for you to report to.

 Work with your student discipline office

In the SUNY system, student discipline is part of the Community Standards Office. Community Standards decides whether a hearing is warranted based on the reports given to your Title IX Coordinator. As part of the Enough is Enough law, Community Standards adopted standard disciplinary procedures that grant victims and the accused specific rights which include a fair hearing, protection from retaliation for the victim, and if a student is found to be responsible for an assault it is noted on their permanent transcripts (SAVR). Unlike in many other states, this ensures that students across New York will receive equal treatment.

 Clear your schedule for a hearing

At UAlbany, if you get a hearing, it will take place in front of a panel of three faculty and staff members. Thanks to the Enough is Enough law, these panelists will have some investigative and trauma-informed interviewing training to protect victims from inappropriate interrogation. If you have an advocate, they can act as your representative and you can request to have confidential exchanges with them throughout the hearing. In the hearing, witnesses are asked to provide testimony and their responses are recorded.

 Wait for a verdict

Post-hearing, everyone who was interviewed can review and refute claims until both sides are comfortable with the documentation. This means the process can drag on for months. Finally, the panel will declare the accused person guilty or not guilty. If they are deemed to be guilty, the panel will also issue punishments, which could include expulsion.

 Pressing criminal charges

For students at UAlbany, Carol can help to clarify the process of pressing criminal charges, which can be overwhelming and complex for students. State troopers can even interview you at the advocacy center in a much more calming environment than a police station. Under Enough is Enough, all campuses now have sexual violence units with officers that are trained to handle these cases. Pressing criminal charges might not feel right for all victims, and that’s okay. However, for those that decide to move forward there are some things that you should know:

1.     The State might not move forward with your case

If the police or prosecutors do not feel that they can prove guilt without a reasonable doubt, they may decide to not press charges.

 2.     Even if charges are pressed, your case may not go to trial

Many cases are resolved via plea bargain. This means that the prosecutor and the defense have come to an agreement in which the accused will plead guilty in exchange for a reduced penalty, like a lighter sentence. This option can be attractive because it does not require that the victim testify.

 3.     Testifying can be a demoralizing and traumatic experience for some survivors

Recounting the story of your assault in court might be emotionally difficult for you, especially if you are cross-examined by the defense. Therefore, it is important to have supportive loved ones and/or an advocate like Carol with you in court. If your school does not have an advocacy center, in some areas your local sexual assault victims’ assistance program can provide you with resources that will help to explain the process and make it less intimidating for you. They may also be able to provide an an advocate to support you during your trial (RAINN, 2019).

 While not every trial ends with a criminal conviction, for some survivors facing their attacker in court and unmasking them can feel empowering regardless of the outcome. Whichever way forward you choose, you are not alone.

You were not asking for it.

You can revoke consent.

It does not matter what you were wearing.

It does not matter how much you drank

It does not matter what drugs you took.

It does not need to have been a stranger.

You don’t need to have fought back.

You don’t need to have said “no”.

It wasn’t your fault.

You do deserve justice.

You need to decide what that means to you.

    References:

Bieler, D. (2019 July 19). Sister survivors: Larry Nassar victims show solidarity as they receive award at ESPYs. The Washington Post. Retrieved from

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/07/19/sister-survivors-larry-nassar-victims-show-solidarity-as-they-receive-award-at-espys/?utm_term=.0d18d9889313

Department of Education. (2017). Department of Education Issues New Interim Guidance on Campus Sexual Misconduct. DOE. Retrieved from https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/department-education-issues-new-interim-guidance-campus-sexual-misconduct

Governor’s Press Office. (2015). Governor Cuomo launches “Enough Is Enough” public awareness campaign to educate students on new law combating sexual violence on college campuses. Retrieved 26 April 2019 from https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-launches-enough-enough-public-awareness-campaign-educate-students-new-law

RAINN. (2019). What to expect from the criminal justice system. Retrieved from

https://www.rainn.org/articles/what-expect-criminal-justice-system

Students' Bill of Rights. University at Albany. Retrieved from

https://system.suny.edu/sexual-violence-prevention-workgroup/policies/bill-of-rights/

Sexual Violence Response Policy. University at Albany. Retrieved from

https://system.suny.edu/sexual-violence-prevention-workgroup/policies/response/

[campusassaultpolicyforum-blog]

How Colleges Can Better Keep Students Safe

By Jacklynn Blanchard, Lauren Szczesny and Paige Allen

 College campuses are dangerous places for young women – 1 in 5 women will be sexually assaulted during her college career (Donde, Ragsdale, Koss, & Zucker, 2018). While Title IX and the Obama administration’s guidelines for handling sexual assault on campus moved the needle forward on protecting women, the recent recension of these guidelines by the Trump administration has undercut this progress. Naming sexual assault and relating it to the history of women’s suffering in the United States brings context to the situation on campus. While federal law works at a slow pace to make campuses safer, there are some ways that colleges can provide important resources so that in the meantime students can protect themselves and ultimately get the justice they are owed.

New York State leads the way nationally with its Enough is Enough Law, which was passed in 2015. The law was created to address sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking on college campuses (Governor’s Press Office, 2015). Here are some programs New York has in place to make campuses safer for students.

 What universities can do

Advocacy centers on every campus

The University at Albany (UAlbany) has an Advocacy Center for Sexual Violence. It is led by Carol Stenger, an expert in sexuality and student discipline standards. Carol founded the advocacy center in 2014, and it serves as an impressive model for the rest of the country’s campuses.

For students at UAlbany, Carol can help to demystify the process of both pressing charges through the university as well as criminal charges through the State. When a student comes to the Center, they are met by Carol or her counterpart and can confidentially tell their story. Advocates are only required to report the date, time, and location of the incident. Carol explains to the student their rights and what the process is going forward. She lets students know they can press charges through the university, as well as criminal charges, and that she can be their advocate throughout both processes. Her role is to take students through all the options step by step and lay out the possible consequences.

If a student comes to Carol immediately following a rape, she brings them to the hospital and helps them through the intake, providing emotional support. Carol told us, “People don’t understand the trauma and the freezing and all the rest of it. We need to do a better job of helping people to understand what happens.” She makes herself available to students at any hour of the day or night to provide them with as much access as possible to the advocacy center’s services. In the university disciplinary charges process, Carol goes with the student to all their meetings and hearings, always maintaining the confidentiality of exchanges with the student. She advises throughout the process and provides emotional support. If a student presses criminal charges, state troopers can interview them in the calming environment of the advocacy center.

Since opening the Advocacy Center at UAlbany reporting has increased by 200% (Stenger, 2019). This sharp uptick has been attributed to students feeling more comfortable coming forward rather than an increase in assaults (Riback, 2016). While it may seem concerning that reports of sexual assault are up, it’s actually a great sign. It means that when something does happen, young women feel comfortable enough to report, without fear of retribution or stigma. As we mentioned earlier, an estimated 20% of young women will suffer a sexual assault on campus. Carol told us she was wary of schools who reported zero incidents because it could indicate the college’s system of reporting is too challenging or alienating for students (Stenger, 2019). Based on the success of the Advocacy Center for Sexual Violence on the UAlbany campus, centers like this should exist on every campus to remove barriers to reporting as well as to provide assistance with navigating the university disciplinary or criminal justice processes.

However, at UAlbany there are only two advocates available to the over 13,000 undergraduate students at the school. Funding for programs like the advocacy center should be expanded to increase the number of advocates available on-campus and to safeguard against staff burnout. The mere existence of an advocacy center on campus can be validating for victims of sexual assault because its presence acknowledges that there is a problem. Properly funding these centers not only ensures that everyone who needs help can get it, but also has the effect of legitimizing the centers instead of appearing like an empty gesture by the government.

 Consider Project Callisto, a technological solution

An advocacy center on every campus is ideal, but for people who are hesitant about coming forward in person, there is another option: Project Callisto. Project Callisto is a database that was launched by Jessica Ladd in 2015 to reduce the number of serial sexual offenders on campuses. On their platform, sexual assault survivors can immediately and anonymously report their assault as well as securely store details about it, including information about the perpetrator. Essentially, Project Callisto puts reports into information escrow hidden from view, and it doesn’t go anywhere unless the student has given the okay. For example, if a student reports an incident of sexual violence but doesn’t want to involve law enforcement, their report sits on the database until they are ready to act.

If the student indicates that they want their report to be available to cross reference with other reports about the same perpetrator and another report matches with them, then the reports can be linked. When the reports are linked, each victim is connected with an attorney who familiarizes them with their options—reporting to the police, reporting to their Title IX Coordinator, going public, and so on. Through the attorney, victims of the same perpetrator are also able to share information with each other and coordinate their actions moving forward. This ability to link reports and catch serial offenders is crucial in protecting students. Carol at the advocacy center told us victims are often motivated by an urge to protect other women more than to get justice for themselves (Stenger, 2019). Project Callisto takes this cue and makes it possible for women to protect one another through their technology. Women who might not have met or had the opportunity to corroborate each other’s stories otherwise can now connect and seek justice together.

Project Callisto, or an application like it, could dovetail well with campus advocacy centers. Aside from being another good option for reporting, it could alleviate some burdens for the advocates in information gathering and maybe help to reduce burnout. Currently, the Project Callisto campus application exists on 13 campuses across the United States. Victims who visit their schools’ Project Callisto campus application are 6 times more likely to report their assaults than through traditional methods (Project Callisto, 2018). Students who have used the Project Callisto application are about 3 times more likely to seek out medical and emotional support services (Project Callisto, 2018). The Project Callisto application has identified serial offenders in 10% of its matching records since 2015 (Project Callisto, 2018). In the 2017-2018 school year, that number jumped to 15% (Project Callisto, 2018).

 States Can Lead the Way

SAFE hospitals and SANE nurses

While this isn’t a campus program, it can make an enormous difference in easing the process for victims of sexual assault. When a person needs a rape exam performed to collect evidence of a sexual assault, they must go to a Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) certified hospital and be examined by a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) for the evidence to be admissible in court. Looking at New York specifically, the lack of access is troubling. Of the 170 hospitals with emergency rooms, 126 cannot perform forensic rape exams. Of these ERs without certification, most are located outside of New York City and many are in rural areas (NYS Senate, 2018). A dearth of SANE nurses, especially in rural areas, can make it challenging to find certified staff (Potiker, 2016). Imagine being a student at a rural university and having to travel hours to get a rape exam done, especially if your campus doesn’t have an advocate to guide you through the process.

Until this year, rape kits in New York were only required to be stored for a chillingly brief 30 days. As part of the 2019 state budget, the storage time was extended to 20 years (citation needed). The budget also provided funding for SANE telehealth nurses, so hospitals without certified staff members can conduct exams by connecting virtually to staff at a certified hospital. These certified staff members can talk with uncertified staff through the examination and evidence collection process. Expansion of these certifications across the entire country is desperately needed to ensure that if a student anywhere in the country is brave enough to report their assault, they have this crucial option to help them to move their case forward.

References:

Donde, S., Ragsdale, S., Koss, M., & Zucker, A. (2018, January 12). If it wasn’t rape, was it sexual assault? Comparing rape and sexual assault acknowledgment in college women who have experienced rape. Violence Against Women. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801217743339

Governor’s Press Office. (2015). Governor Cuomo Launches “Enough Is Enough” Public

Awareness Campaign to Educate Students on New Law Combating Sexual Violence on College Campuses. Retrieved 26 April 2019 from https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-launches-enough-enough-public-awareness-campaign-educate-students-new-law

Potiker, H. (2016, August 31). How the critical shortage of sexual assault nurses harms survivors across the US. Broadly. Retrieved from https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/vb44m3/how-the-critical-shortage-of-sexual-assault-nurses-harms-survivors-across-the-us

Project Callisto. (2018). 2012-2018 academic year report. Retrieved from https://www.projectcallisto.org/Callisto_Year_3_final.pdf

Riback, L. (2016, April 5). Sexual assault reports up 200 percent at UAlbany. Albany Student Press. Retrieved from http://www.albanystudentpress.net/sexual-assault-reports-up-200-percent-at-ualbany/

Stenger, C. (2019, April 15) Interview with Carol Stenger.

[campusassaultpolicyforum-blog]

When Rape Isn’t a 4-Letter Word: How New York is Fighting Back Against Campus Assault

By Jacklynn Blanchard, Lauren Szczesny and Paige Allen

 As the summer wanes and the leaves begin to change color, new flocks of teenagers will descend upon campuses across America. There they will take up residency in dorms, explore their identities, and begin to etch out their lives as college students. These young adults will be expected to fend for themselves – sometimes for the first time in their lives – and certainly, mistakes will be made. Every year splashy headlines tell stories of wild frat parties, cheating scandals, and student activism gone awry, but these are just a cursory glance of the college experience. While for some college will be remembered fondly, for others the indelible marks of trauma may overshadow an otherwise carefree and happy time.

Campus sexual assault has always been and remains an epidemic. It is estimated that 20% of women will experience a sexual assault in college (Donde, Ragsdale, Koss, & Zucker, 2018). In 2019, that amounts to roughly 33.6 million women annually in the United States (Statista, 2017). To put that into context, that is more than double the number of cancer survivors currently living in the US (NCI, 2018). While the sexual assault victims’ movement has gained traction culturally, acknowledging the problem exists only goes so far in protecting women and helping them to get the justice they deserve.

While the current Me Too movement has brought sexual assault to the forefront of the women’s movement and in turn the women’s movement to the forefront of American consciousness, campus sexual assault justice has been a slow moving train. In the 1980s, Title IX was updated to include sexual assault (Lieberwitz et al., 2016). In 1990, the Cleary Act was passed after a young woman was raped and murdered in her residence hall (Lieberwitz et al., 2016). In 2011, the Obama administration specifically outlined how universities should handle campus sexual assault (Ali, 2011, p.1-19). In 2017, the Trump administration rolled these guidelines back (DeVos, 2017). This slow action by both the government and American culture has contributed to an uncertain environment in which to discuss sexual assault. We are simply not comfortable talking about it, and as a result little has changed for women on campus. Women are encouraged to share their stories but are met with mixed messages from both government and culture when they do so. A study by the National Center for Educational Statistics found the number of reported campus sex crimes increased by 205% between 2001 and 2014 (2017, pp.11). Despite this alarming increase, 89% of 11,000 colleges reported zero rapes in 2014 (Becker, 2017). More women are reporting, but it’s not leading to institutional action. If in our society we can’t have frank conversations about the problem, how can we expect colleges take corrective action when reporting anything above 0% could mean a damaged reputation or a loss of funding? What does that say about our national values?

While both government and contemporary culture promote valuing women, there is a hesitance to admit that women who are victims of sexual assault have been failed by the laws in place and by a society that has not made dismantling oppressive gender dynamics a priority. The evidence in reporting increases should be enough of a catalyst to pass protective legislation, but the unfortunate reality is evidence is not enough on its own. The hardest work is in a meaningful shift of our national values. The Me Too movement has put the spotlight to sexual assault, but the federal government has failed to tighten the laws that protect women – in Secretary DeVos’s case, these laws have even been loosened (Jackson, 2017).  

Thankfully, New York State (NYS) has stepped up as a leader in the charge to protect women on its college campuses. New York’s Enough is Enough law echoes the sentiments of women everywhere. Can New York function as a model for the rest of the country? We think so. While its system is imperfect, it is a huge step forward in not just shining a light on the issue, but actually attempting to rectify one of the greatest threats to women in our time.

 What is New York doing? Enough is Enough

In 2015, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed Enough is Enough into law. This legislation asserts that students attending college have the right to an educational environment that is safe, healthy and free from discrimination and violence (Governor’s Press Office, 2015). The law was created to address sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking on college campuses (Governor’s Press Office, 2015).

What is it?

Enough is Enough creates:

·       A statewide definition of affirmative consent as a knowing, voluntary and mutual decision among all participants to engage in sexual activity;

·       A statewide amnesty policy encouraging students to report incidents of sexual assault or sexual violence by granting immunity for certain campus policy violations such as drug and alcohol use when reporting sexual assault;

·       The students’ bill of rights which informs sexual assault victims of their legal rights and available resources, and requires campuses to distribute that information;

·       Training requirements for administrators, staff and students on sexual assault and related remedies (during orientations);

·       A campus requirement to annually submit to the State Education Department reports of sexual violence, which is made publicly available;

·       The sexual assault victims’ unit within the NYS police which specializes in responding to sex assaults and related crimes as well as trains local law enforcement appropriately; and,

·       Requirements for first responders to notify survivors of their rights to contact outside law enforcement (Governor’s Press Office, 2015).

Remember the victims

Victims of sexual violence have historically been subjected to blame, suspicion, and outright disdain. Campuses have swept reports under the rug, and retaliation has driven some victims to drop out or attempt suicide (Dick, 2015). Under Enough is Enough, victims have the right to:

·       Decide whether to report to university police/campus security, local law enforcement, and/or state police;

·       Report the incident to their institution and be protected by the institution from retaliation for reporting an incident; and,

·       Receive assistance and resources from their institution (Governor’s Press Office, 2015).

 Why is Enough is Enough different?

Enough is Enough differs from previous campus sexual assault initiatives because it not only applies to publicly-funded colleges, it also includes private institutions. Therefore, no students are left behind. This legislation also creates a uniform definition of consent. The affirmative consent policy does not discriminate, even if the victim was under the influence, and consent can be revoked at any time during the encounter. Silence does not equal consent. This law underpins the value of women and acknowledges historic gender dynamic imbalances that need to be addressed to move forward as a more just society. Institutionalizing a new definition of consent helps to rectify the historic power imbalance that exists in sexual situations. New York responded to the plethora of evidence that young women were not safe, recognized the failure of the laws in place, and forced an uncomfortable conversation about this epidemic.

University at Albany’s Advocacy Center

The State University of New York at Albany (UAlbany) even went so far as to create the Advocacy Center for Sexual Violence. We talked to its director, Carol Stenger, to gain insight into her work and how Enough is Enough works in practice. Carol, in conjunction with the Title IX Office, developed trainings aimed at freshman orientation. The idea behind these trainings is to underscore the importance of consent and make it clear that sexual assault is taken seriously at this school. The advocacy center offers students a safe, discreet, and comfortable space to discuss an extremely traumatic event, and to receive compassionate guidance through whatever justice process they pursue. It’s a place to learn and it’s a place to be heard. The underlying message to young women is: you are valued.  

    References:

Ali, R. (2011, April 4). Dear Colleague [Letter]. The United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights. Retrieved from

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201104.pdf

Governor’s Press Office. (2015). Governor Cuomo launches “Enough Is Enough” public awareness campaign to educate students on new law combating sexual violence on college campuses. Retrieved 26 April 2019 from https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-launches-enough-enough-public-awareness-campaign-educate-students-new-law

Jackson, C. (2017, September 22). Dear Colleague [Letter]. The United States

Department of Education Office of Civil Rights. Retrieved from

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-title-ix-201709.pdf

Lieberwitz, R.L., Jaleel, R., Kelleher, T., Scott, J.W., Young, D., Reichman, H., . . . (2016). The History, Uses, and Abuses of Title IX. AAUP. Retrieved from https://www.aaup.org/file/TitleIXreport.pdf

National Cancer Institute. (2018, April 27). Cancer statistics. Retrieved from

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics

Statista. (2019). Total population of the United States 2010-2024, by gender. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/737923/us-population-by-gender/

Stenger, C. (2019, April 15) Interview with Carol Stenger.

Students' Bill of Rights. University at Albany. Retrieved from

https://system.suny.edu/sexual-violence-prevention-workgroup/policies/bill-of-rights/