Leading lady

Earlier this month, Barnard was listed along with 93 other colleges and universities on a list of institutions undergoing federal investigation for their handling of sexual violence reports.  As part of a continuing response, SGA held an open forum today and Bwogger Henry Litwhiler attended.

In response to the investigation, Barnard SGA organized a community discussion on Title IX compliance. Billed as a chance for Barnard students to provide feedback and ask questions about the college’s response, the focus group featured Barnard Assistant Dean for Equity Amy Zavadil and SGA’s Vice President for Student Government Sarah Shuster and Representative for Campus Policy Sienna Walker.

The hour-long session attracted a total of six attendees from Barnard’s student body. It was suggested that winter storm Juno had hampered efforts to get the word out, but since there was room for only a few more students in the conference room, expectations must not have been high. There was consensus towards the end of the meeting that another focus group would be in order, as turnout at previous events had been much better.

Zavadil fielded questions from students at the table, offering at times some of her own. Her emphasis, she explained, was on policy changes that could be brought about at Barnard to supplement efforts already underway at Columbia’s Sexual Violence Response.

The first point raised by a student was that, contrary to a provision of Title IX prohibiting colleges from charging students for services related to an assault on campus, Barnard caps sessions at the Furman Counseling Center at eight per semester, forcing survivors to seek expensive off-campus services instead. Zavadil countered that Furman is intended to serve students’ short-term needs and that assistance is provided to help students transition into long-term therapy. She admitted, however, that there should be more flexibility and that further discussion is warranted on the issue.

The discussion then shifted to prevention, which many at the focus group felt ought to be addressed with a mandatory, longer-term program rather than a few hours during NSOP. Zavadil emphasized the logistical difficulties involved in introducing a mandatory, in-person program. Some students were sympathetic to her concerns, remarking that many of the programs piloted during the most recent round of NSOP failed to engage their audiences.

Zavadil went on to ask how sexual violence prevention programs could best engage students in the Barnard community in particular. Some students felt that deference should be paid to Barnard students’ tendency to be victims rather than perpetrators of sexual violence, but others countered that consent training is no less important for those more likely to be victims than for those more likely to be perpetrators.

One area of agreement, however, was that a serious, intimate tone is needed to convey the gravity of sexual assault. Criticism was voiced at the sometimes-silly tone of the prevention training at this year’s NSOP and at the degree of emphasis on policy instead of on practical conduct. This led Zavadil to bring up the issue of prevention training being a triggering experience for survivors of sexual violence, arguing that allowing exemptions for survivors contradicts the idea of universal, mandatory education. The students at the table suggested that “sensitive alternatives” be found to ensure that survivors are given appropriate training without doing more harm than good.

Dean Zavadil concluded the meeting by asking students to suggest other types of programming that might complement consent and bystander intervention training. She brought up “listen-believe-refer” training for faculty, citing results from the campus climate survey that suggested that students would be inclined to tell trusted faculty members about cases of sexual violence, but downplayed the amount of influence she could have on faculty conduct.

Barnard students are advised to be on the lookout for more of these meetings in the coming months to ensure that as many voices are heard as possible.

Image via Wikimedia Commons