By Blaze Hubbard
\n<\/em><\/strong>For Triton\u2019s Call<\/em><\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Feb. 17, President Robert Underwood and the committee that was tasked\u00a0with creating a new sexual misconduct policy held a community hearing for the public to\u00a0voice their opinions, comments and concerns.<\/p>\n

President Robert Underwood detailed the\u00a0current draft of the sexual misconduct policy, which is still in the works of being revised until\u00a0March 3, when it will be up for action at the UOG Board of Regents meeting.\u00a0\u201cWe will treat the policy as the warning,\u201d Underwood said, as he shed light on the proposed\u00a0policy\u2019s No Tolerance section, \u201cthere is no warning in this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Underwood explained the policy\u2019s ban on amorous relationships between employees and\u00a0students of the university.\u00a0An amorous relationship is defined as any romantic or sexual relationship between two\u00a0people of unequal power; for example, a teacher and a student.<\/p>\n

Addressing the issue of acquiring affirmative consent, or the \u201cYes Means Yes\u201d Policy,\u00a0President Underwood noted that to abide by these guidelines, \u201cit is the responsibility of the\u00a0initiator to obtain clear and affirmative responses through words and\/or actions, which\u00a0indicate a willingness to participate in mutually agreed upon sexual activity at each stage of\u00a0sexual involvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Underwood also noted that \u201cprevious sexual encounters is not an invitation to have sex in\u00a0the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Na\u2019mas Saffo\u2019 UOG<\/strong><\/p>\n

Senior Vice-President Anita Borja-Enriquez spoke on \u201cNa\u2019mas Saffo\u2019 UOG,\u201d which are a few\u00a0new protocols to spread awareness and encourage safety.\u00a0The new policy makes sexual harassment training mandatory for all employees and students.<\/p>\n

Since Sept. 2015, employees have been completing sexual harassment training. \u201c[At the]\u00a0beginning of Fall 2016, all students will be required, as a condition for registration, to go\u00a0through the online sexual harassment training,\u201d says Dr. Enriquez. This training will be\u00a0required on an annual basis.<\/p>\n

The committee has established a HELP line and HELP line website, where complaints can be\u00a0filed anonymously or openly. The HELP line can be reached at 735-HELP (4357) or on the web\u00a0at www.uog.edu\/helpline.<\/p>\n

The hearing was open for public comment, and featured four speakers. The first speaker,\u00a0UOG Associate Professor Ronald McNinch, voiced his approval of the proposed policy. The\u00a0following three speakers were from SWSA, the Social Work Student Alliance.<\/p>\n

The last speaker, Vera Ferrera, gave a courageous testimony to everyone, whom she referred\u00a0to as her UOG family, about the struggle of being a victim, a survivor, and a concerned\u00a0mother in a culture of silence.\u00a0She explained that in a culture of silence, it is common for victims to blame themselves for\u00a0the perpetrator\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

She voiced approval of the policy and made suggestions to hire professional counselors to\u00a0provide service to students in need and to handle the HELP lines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Blaze Hubbard For Triton\u2019s Call On Wednesday, Feb. 17, President Robert Underwood and the committee that was tasked\u00a0with creating a new sexual misconduct policy held a community hearing for the public to\u00a0voice their opinions, comments and concerns. President Robert Underwood detailed the\u00a0current draft of the sexual misconduct policy, which is still in the works … <\/p>\n

Read more “UOG updates sexual misconduct policy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,3,12],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[283],"yoast_head":"\n