The Chancellor’s Workgroup on Sexual Violence Prevention, Education and Advocacy met Tuesday with Chancellor Kent Syverud to discuss the group’s findings, including the possibility of creating a central hub on campus for sexual assault response services.

In the wake of the decision to realign sexual assault services, Syverud created and appointed 13 people to a workgroup on sexual violence prevention, education and advocacy. The workgroup was tasked with creating a report identifying areas that could be improved in campus and community culture regarding sexual and relationship violence. The group submitted its final report on Dec. 17, 2014, and met with Syverud on Tuesday to discuss its recommendations.

The meeting began with the co-chairs of the workgroup presenting a short power-point version of the report, issues and recommendations while the chancellor listened carefully, said Catherine Gerard, director of the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration.

“The Chancellor asked a number of very good questions that led to deeper discussion and opened the space for further clarification,” Gerard said.

The workgroup was composed of various members of the Syracuse University community, with students, faculty and staff from different areas of focus including the LGBT Resource Center, Mentors in Violence Prevention and Students Advocating for Sexual Safety and Empowerment.

The workgroup’s recommendations included providing additional staffing and resources for the Counseling Center, creating two new support groups run by the Sexual and Relationship Violence Response Team and establishing a permanent Chancellor’s Taskforce on Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence.

Tula Goenka, an associate professor of television, radio, and film and member of the workgroup, said that an important recommendation the group made is to have a central location for all all services responsive to incidents of sexual assault and relationship violence.

“It’s crucial that all the services be brought together so if a student is in any kind of crisis or trauma, they could go to one building rather than having to walk all around campus,” Goenka said.

The recommendation for a central location is one of the group’s long-term recommendations that is to be implemented within the next 2–3 years.

Goenka said a major difficulty in implementing the recommendations is funding.

“Somebody asked (Syverud) what the biggest challenge was and he was very honest about it being a lack of resources,” Goenka said. “It’s not like the university has all this money locked away somewhere. We understood that some of our recommendations will take time.”

Kevin Quinn, senior vice president for public affairs at SU, said in an email that Syverud will be following the group’s recommendation in establishing a permanent Chancellor’s Taskforce on Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence.

“The chancellor and his leadership team will be working closely with the workgroup members and the new taskforce to implement these recommendations,” Quinn said. “We believe Syracuse has the talent and the people to be a leader on these critical issues.”

Though the original workgroup has completed its task and therefore disbanded, Gerard said she sees the initial report and meeting with the chancellor as a positive first step in a very complex issue.

Said Gerard: “We can move forward with the recommendations, but the real challenge we face as a campus community is how do we build a campus culture of respect for everyone?”

Published on January 22, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact Lydia: lawilson@syr.edu