Last week, students received an email stating there was a sexual assault at the on-campus housing complex, Campus Walk. With more emails about similar instances entering students’ inboxes, it’s hard to ignore the growing reality of this issue on the University’s campus and the surrounding areas.
Many students don’t understand the processes one might go through after finding themselves involved in instances of sexual assault, harassment, domestic violence or stalking. Over the next few months, The Daily Mississippian will answer the following questions: What resources does the University offer students? What do the directors, coordinators, and officers in these offices and organizations do for the campus community as whole and, more specifically, survivors of instances of sexual misconduct? What issues surround sexual misconduct at our campus specifically?
Due to a recently heightened awareness about the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses, student advocacy and involvement from federal lawmakers, universities have changed their processes in dealing with sexual assault reports repeatedly over the years. It is still one of the hardest issues to talk about due to the sometimes long-lasting and extremely sensitive effects on victims of these crimes, however, and the work is not yet over.
Students can report through a handful of resources, such as the advocacy-centered Violence Prevention Office, Title IX coordinator, UPD or University faculty.
UPD puts the power in the hands of the complainant to decide whether they want to continue under the criminal process or not continue at all. Title IX coordinator Honey Ussery will investigate reports of misconduct, and if the complainant wishes, she will report the information to the Office of Conflict Resolution and Student Conduct, which will hold a hearing, adjudicate the case and then make any sanctions.
Rebels Against Sexual Assault is a student-led organization that focuses on increasing awareness and knowledge about sexual misconduct in the campus community. The organization formed this past April after a group of students held a screening for the CNN documentary, “The Hunting Ground.” RASA engages students through information meetings, film screenings and, most recently, It’s On Us week. They inform students about the most recent issues both nationally and locally. Before the bill lost support, RASA held an informational meeting to explain the Safe Campus Act and how it would change the University’s current processes.
Whether they choose to report or not, it is the student’s choice to utilize any on-campus resources; however, any University faculty or staff member who hears about a potential sexual assault does have a duty to report the instance to Title IX.
Each office said the University has grown in the past few years as far as awareness of the issue and the resources it now provides. Lindsey Bartlett Mosvick, who has been the head of the advocacy-centered Violence Prevention program for two years, said she has seen an increase in reporting, not just to the police, but also to avenues such as the Title IX Coordinator and her own office.
Mosvick provides anything students need to feel safe and comfortable on campus, such as housing changes, help with the student conduct process or through the criminal justice process. She can come to the aid of students as early as the administering of an evidentiary exam or rape kit. She does not work with respondents, but counseling services must be available for them under Title IX requirements.
Graphic by: Clara Turnage
“I am very happy that reporting has increased,” said director of student conduct Aniesha Mitchell. “Often people will look at a school that has a lot of reports of sexual misconduct or domestic violence and think, ‘that’s a problem school,’ but, in my opinion, reports are good because it demonstrates that students are confident in the system to respond to the behavior, so they know if they report it’s going to be taken seriously and they’ll be protected from retaliation.”
This result is positive, and allows her to better understand the campus climate and watch for repeat offenders.
“I’ve had, obviously we’ve had, complaints, and I’m looking into them,” Ussery said. “And some of them are serious. Very serious complaints. I think that’s because (students) feel more comfortable coming in here now. We’re getting more awareness. People know that we are an avenue for them.”
These avenues, Title IX, violence prevention, and, if the complainant chooses, the student conduct process, are important because a survivor might not want to undergo the inevitably long process of a criminal trial.
“By the time everything is settled there, everybody could be graduated. If it happens your junior year, what good is going to do you waiting a year or two? Because you still have to see that person on campus,” Ussery said. “We have the 60 days here to do our investigation, and we can, in certain circumstances, issue interim suspensions during our investigations so that the complainant feels safer on campus.”
According to Mitchell, an issue that has been on the rise is retaliation.
“I think that the increase is not attributed to a malicious intent,” Mitchell said. “I think people don’t understand what retaliation is and forms of retaliation.”
Any threats, violent or non-violent, to a student, such as not permitting students to participate in student groups, or saying they’ll be hindered in the recruitment process, is retaliation.
A much larger issue, but one that determines the course of a potential sexual assault situation, is consent. Under University policy, consent is defined as “an affirmative agreement– through clear actions or words– to engage in sexual activity.” Consent can be revoked at any point during an encounter, and incapacitated parties cannot give consent.
“What I’ve seen is, yes, with the sexual assault, I’ve experienced students not understanding what consent is under University policy, and not knowing how to gauge consent,” Mitchell said. “And not knowing whether or not they actually had consent.”
Alcohol consumption can the biggest hinderance in an investigation. When both parties are seriously intoxicated, witnesses and those involved can have different perspectives on an event and forget important details.
Bystander intervention is the University’s attempt at stopping sexual assault at the source: students and community members. Mosvick holds sessions during which she educates University community members on intervention and the Green Dot program. Sessions are usually tailored to different groups, such as freshmen EDHE classes, fraternities, sororities and, of course, orientation groups.
“It’s the evidence-based best practice for preventing violence right now. We don’t have a lot of evidence, but right now what the evidence tells us is that activating bystanders is the best way for us to prevent this type of violence in the campus community,” Mosvick said.
Mosvick said she hopes, with increasing education on these concepts, students will educate their peers and become more responsive.
“The major principle of prevention is people modeling helping behaviors,” Mosvick said. “We ask y’all to do these things, those Green Dots and active bystander moments, because as you start to do them, people model helping behaviors. Peers are the biggest influence.”
Making information easily accessible to students, through RASA and through a recently updated informational website, UMSAFE.olemiss.edu, is imperative to spreading knowledge on the issue.
“With this new website, we’re trying to make everything really easily accessible in a way that students identify with it better,” Mosvick said. “And it looks good on mobile.”
