Members of Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud’s Workgroup on Sexual Violence Prevention, Education and Advocacy say their work is complete, but are hopeful that students, faculty and staff will do their part to make the group’s recommendations a reality.

Chase Catalano, director of the LGBT Resource Center and a co-chair of the workgroup, said the group is working to set up a day and time to meet with the chancellor and discuss the report. Beyond that, he said there are no plans for any more meetings.

The workgroup was created on Sept. 22, and consisted of 13 members of the SU community. Catalano and Dawn Johnson, a professor in the School of Education, served as co-chairs of the workgroup. Following nearly three months of meetings, research and interviews, the group submitted its final 77-page report to the chancellor on Dec. 17. In the report, the group identified gaps in services for victims and survivors of sexual and relationship violence on campus, and proposed a set of both short-term and long-term recommendations for improving campus and community culture.

Catalano said members of the workgroup met weekly until the middle of November, at which point they began meeting twice a week.

“We met with various administrators, attended the Division of Student Affairs listening meeting, talked with various student groups and conducted our own focus group, then began the writing process,” Catalano said.

Catalano said the group developed ideas for recommendations throughout the entire process, and members were in complete agreement about everything included in the final report as a recommendation.

“We intentionally did not number or rank the recommendations because they are each important,” Catalano said, “and only made the distinction between short-term and long-term recommendations based on the work and infrastructure required to achieve the recommendation.”

The workgroup’s short-term recommendations are to be addressed this spring, according to the report. Johnson, one of the co-chairs of the group, said members felt it was important to provide some recommendations that could be accomplished in the short-term knowing that others would take longer to implement.

Some of the short-term recommendations in the report include providing additional staffing and resources to the Counseling Center, updating stickers in bathroom stalls that communicate information about sexual and relationship violence services, and creating a task force on sexual and relationship violence that reviews services, policies and programs every semester.

Johnson added that given the campus community’s response to the closing of the Advocacy Center last summer, the group members are hopeful that the short-term recommendations can be implemented this semester.

In addition, several long-term recommendations were made in the report, including strengthening the relationship between Vera House and SU, and creating a “hub” at 111 Waverly Ave. that would house all sexual assault and relationship violence services.

For those recommendations to be effective, group members said the SU community must support the ideas. Brittany Moore, a senior public relations major, was one of the student members of the workgroup. Moore said the only way to ensure the recommendations are addressed in a timely manner is for students, faculty and staff to get involved.

“We are the ones that should be rallying on the Quad and storming the chancellor’s office, but we are also the ones who should be participating in working groups like this one,” Moore said.

Johnson added that students play a vital role in changing campus culture, and that she hopes undergraduate and graduate students will be asked to be involved in the process of implementing the workgroup’s recommendations.

“This is a long-term commitment that needs the ideas and perspectives of students, as well as faculty and staff, to make lasting changes to campus culture,” she said.

Published on January 12, 2015 at 12:01 am

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