By Blaze Hubbard
For Triton’s Call
On Wednesday, Feb. 17, President Robert Underwood and the committee that was tasked with creating a new sexual misconduct policy held a community hearing for the public to voice their opinions, comments and concerns.
President Robert Underwood detailed the current draft of the sexual misconduct policy, which is still in the works of being revised until March 3, when it will be up for action at the UOG Board of Regents meeting. “We will treat the policy as the warning,” Underwood said, as he shed light on the proposed policy’s No Tolerance section, “there is no warning in this.”
Underwood explained the policy’s ban on amorous relationships between employees and students of the university. An amorous relationship is defined as any romantic or sexual relationship between two people of unequal power; for example, a teacher and a student.
Addressing the issue of acquiring affirmative consent, or the “Yes Means Yes” Policy, President Underwood noted that to abide by these guidelines, “it is the responsibility of the initiator to obtain clear and affirmative responses through words and/or actions, which indicate a willingness to participate in mutually agreed upon sexual activity at each stage of sexual involvement.”
Underwood also noted that “previous sexual encounters is not an invitation to have sex in the future.”
Na’mas Saffo’ UOG
Senior Vice-President Anita Borja-Enriquez spoke on “Na’mas Saffo’ UOG,” which are a few new protocols to spread awareness and encourage safety. The new policy makes sexual harassment training mandatory for all employees and students.
Since Sept. 2015, employees have been completing sexual harassment training. “[At the] beginning of Fall 2016, all students will be required, as a condition for registration, to go through the online sexual harassment training,” says Dr. Enriquez. This training will be required on an annual basis.
The committee has established a HELP line and HELP line website, where complaints can be filed anonymously or openly. The HELP line can be reached at 735-HELP (4357) or on the web at www.uog.edu/helpline.
The hearing was open for public comment, and featured four speakers. The first speaker, UOG Associate Professor Ronald McNinch, voiced his approval of the proposed policy. The following three speakers were from SWSA, the Social Work Student Alliance.
The last speaker, Vera Ferrera, gave a courageous testimony to everyone, whom she referred to as her UOG family, about the struggle of being a victim, a survivor, and a concerned mother in a culture of silence. She explained that in a culture of silence, it is common for victims to blame themselves for the perpetrator’s actions.
She voiced approval of the policy and made suggestions to hire professional counselors to provide service to students in need and to handle the HELP lines.