The Student Assault Leadership Council presented its first response to the University administration for the recently-revised sexual assault policy report, which bestows victims with more flexibility to make their case public.
SALC Chair Sloane Kuney said the memo proposed suggestions for all aspects of the committee's procedures. Issues such as confidentiality, definitions of offenses, training for Sexual Assault Board members, SAB trial procedures and sexual violence education were included in the document.
The SALC's goal was to increase student involvement in a body that exists for their well-being, Katrina Salmon,sexual assault facts and education president, said.
"We gave the students an opportunity to speak and give suggestions they wanted to," Salmons said. "We allowed space for new, creative ideas, to see what we could come up with, and we wanted to see if we were covering areas that the University wasn't addressing."
Salmon said the SAB began revising its procedures last spring at the suggestion of Deans of Student Life Rue and Sisson.
"The processes weren't as effective as they should have been," she said. "The perpetrators were benefiting more than the survivors. There weren't strict enough punishments."
Kuney said student involvement in the procedure was as important as the actual propositions.
"It's not only about terminology and the content of the proposed revisions but about methodology and approach to the process," Kuney said.
Kuney said the SALC statement included suggestions from a community concerns meeting held early last December. About a hundred students attended the meeting, according to Salmons.
"We talked in small groups and just gave the students an opportunity to speak and give suggestions," Salmons said.
The SALC presented the first copy of the statement to University President John T. Casteen, III, Vice President of Student Affairs Patricia Lampkin, Rue and Sisson.
Rue said she hopes the future revisions from the suggestions will increase the number of students who come forward with cases.
"We want to increase reporting. We'd like more students to use the processes that we have," Rue said. "That was a large reason for revising the procedures."
Salmons said she and Kuney will speak with Rue and Sisson in the coming weeks about the document.
"This was our first step in making sure the University has an open, transparent and inclusive process," Salmons said.
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