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

[Lauren Klein <>]

Hi Molly,

I've faced a similar issue both at my previous institution and consulting with folks on other campuses. What is challenging about this is that these alerts can serve multiple purposes including helping people avoid a specific threat, raising awareness about the nature of crime on campus, and others. Our challenge was that interpersonal crimes of different natures (stabbings, for example) between people who knew each other were announced to our campus communities while sexual assaults felt more complicated. When I have seen acquaintance cases announced, the location (if known) was also included.

In working with a student organization of advocates on the topic of timely warnings, they were interested in using the warnings to also communicate the nature and prevalence of sexual assault. They were concerned both that only sending out stranger alerts skewed perception of the problem of sexual violence AND that releasing acquaintance alerts identify survivors and could lead to retaliation. Both are legitimate fears, of course. 

They proposed "safety tips" that were directed at potential perpetrators and bystanders, as the stranger-based tips of "don't walk alone at night" or "women must always walk in groups (yikes)" not only felt victim-blaming but untenable on a college campus.  They also asked that the message include a trigger warning and look substantively different than other crime alerts due to the nature of the incident. They asked that the sexual assault prevention office contact information be listed and a website be created that could explain the issue further so readers could educate themselves or reach out with questions.  They also wanted a professional advocate to be on the team that vetted messages to ensure that the information sent was not gratuitous in its description or victim-blaming.

 Here are some examples of what we came up with:

·      Be respectful of yourself and others.  Make sure that any sexual act is OK with your partner, and remember that consent is an active process, not the absence of a “no.”

·      Stay alert and if you feel uneasy, go to a safe location and call a friend or the police.

·      If you notice a situation that seems unsafe for another student, intervene if it’s safe to do so or call for support.

·      Remember that the majority of sexual assaults are perpetrated by someone the survivor knows.  Someone can feel they are in a safe place with safe people and be sexually assaulted.

I would be happy to talk further off-list, as this is a topic of great interest to me.  

 

My best, 

LB

-- 

Lauren (LB) Klein, MSW

Gender-Based Violence Prevention Advocate & Consultant

Candidate, Program on Gender-Based Violence

University of Colorado-Denver School of Public Affairs

314.578.8584 | 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenlbklein 

On Wed, Sep 3, 2014 at 10:52 AM, Broussard, Julia A <> wrote:

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