Embrace the devils, for community’s sake

On Monday, three members of the Barnard/Columbia faculty came to the SGA meeting to discuss issues regarding sexual violence response and rape crisis within the CU community. Bwogger Lauren Beltrone reports.

***Trigger Warning: Discussion of sexual assault policy, and issues of sexual assault and gender-based sexual misconduct on campus*** 

Amy Zavadil, Associate Dean for Equity and Title IX/Community Conduct Director at Barnard College, La’Shawn Rivera, director of CU’s Sexual Violence Response, and Veronica Green, Senior Program Coordinator for the Rape Crisis and Violence Support Center, were among the many faces seen at Monday’s SGA meeting. Hoping to clear up any questions the reps had in regards to the sexual assault policy and prevention program, the three faculty members also wanted to emphasize what our rights and resources are as students.

So, um, what are those rights and resources? This article written in response to Sexual Assault Awareness Month enumerates all what’s provided to us by the university. Green and Zavadil stated that they themselves are available as resources, as is the entire Rape Crisis/Anti-Violence Support Center staff. Furthermore, other members of our community like deans can provide support in response to such incidents.

One thing currently being worked on by the Rape Crisis/Anti-Violence Support Center that you may not know about regards housing for victims. According to Rivera, the members of the RC/AVSC are putting together a streamlined process to help provide assault victims with temporary housing accommodations after an on-campus incident. According to Rivera, right now it’s possible to receive this type of temporary housing, but there isn’t a specific protocol for a student seeking such housing to follow. Rivera and the rest of the staff want to simplify the process.

Another issue brought up during the meeting was how hard it is to find Furman. Although access is provided to all CU students, accessibility for those of us without Barnard IDs continues to be an issue. While they’re still working out a solution to that problem, Rivera is currently making a directory to clear up any confusion as to where Furman and the RC/AVSC are located.

Lastly, Green reminded us about that the RC/AVSC offers co-sponsorships for groups and leaders trying to create similar spaces on campus. In other words, shoot them an email with what you want to do for our community and they’ll help you make that happen.

Swing Set of Doom via Shutterstock