Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Broussard, Julia A" <>]

Hi Molly,

 

This topic came up at the Dartmouth Summit on Sexual Assault that took place this summer.  I attended a session facilitated by Carly Smith, a PhD student at University Oregon whose research focuses on institutional betrayal.  Carly discussed a study she had done on crime alerts and proposed some alternatives for how universities could provide information about acquaintance sexual assaults to their campus without sending out a crime alert every time one gets reported.  She recommended that universities send out a digest periodically regarding reported rapes where the perpetrator is known and also made some recommendations about the wording of these alerts and the types of tips that should be included.  Her recommendations were fairly similar to what Juliette shared from Rollins (tips focused more on bystander intervention and consent and less on telling women how to avoid rape). Here’s a link to a website with more information about the research on institutional betrayal being conducted at Oregon: http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/jjf/institutionalbetrayal/ and a link to a summary of some of the research (see #4 in regards to crime alerts): http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/jjf/institutionalbetrayal/Institutional%20Betrayal%20Research%20Summary%20February%202014.pdf.  Hope this is helpful!

 

I can also add that at Tulane we generally do not send out crime alerts for rapes with a known perpetrator.  I think the rationale from our police department is that, while these perpetrators may pose an ongoing threat to the campus population, sending out the crime alert does not help people avoid that perpetrator (since we can’t provide the student’s name).  I like Carly Smith’s suggestion that we send out a periodic digest providing information about these reports.  I think it would help to raise awareness that sexual assault occurs on our campus without overwhelming students with the alerts. 

 

Best,

 

Julia

 

Julia Broussard, LMSW | Coordinator, Office of Violence Prevention and Support Services

Division of Student Affairs | Tulane University

Lavin-Bernick Center, Suite G02 | New Orleans, LA 70118

office: 504.314.2161 | email:

 

What will your legacy be?  http://onewave.tulane.edu

 

From: McLay, Molly Margaret [mailto:]
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2014 9:47 PM
To:
Subject: crime alerts question

 

Hi there,

 

Our university has a group of folks meeting from various campus units (police, student discipline, housing, public affairs, legal, and the women's center) to discuss how best to approach Clery-required timely crime alerts. The question of acquaintance sexual assault in these alerts has come up as of late, and we had some questions that we're each asking our respective listservs:

• Do you send out timely crime alerts for acquaintance sexual assaults?
• If not, what is the rationale/justification?
• If so...

• How detailed are you with locations in the alerts? 
• Do you use some type of caveat with the alert?  Example “This alert is being put out with limited information so as not to release any type of identifying information about the victim, but to be used as a tool to increase safety awareness and precautionary behavior” or something similar… 
• Specifically if occurs in university housing, and several concerned parents begin calling housing administration to try to figure out which dorm it happened in, do you have housing refer back to your police department or unit that released the crime alerts, and then in turn would you have them FOIA the information?  

Feedback and best practices from other institutions would be most helpful. Thank you!

 

Molly M. McLay, MSW, LSW

Assistant Director

University of Illinois Women's Resources Center

Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations

2nd Floor, MC-302

703 S. Wright Street

Champaign, IL 61820

(p) 217-333-3137

(f) 217-244-3167

http://www.go.illinois.edu/wrc