Carleton released a revised draft of its sexual violence policy on Oct. 6 in an email to students, and is now looking to collect feedback on the policy.
Feedback will be collected from students until the end of the month, after which a final draft will go to the university’s Board of Governors for approval in December.
Consultations on the policy have been ongoing since the spring—other than a hiatus over the summer—to get input from community groups on what the policy should entail.
The recently released draft policy is longer than the one from March, and has also been restructured, said Jen Sugar, director of student affairs at Carleton.
The changes were necessary after the Ontario government released additional requirements in May on the content of the sexual violence policies, she said.
“The new requirements were quite specific and so there was quite a lot that we needed to kind of add in and make sure it was there, so we wanted to make sure that we were actually listening to the government,” Sugar said.
According to Sugar, some of the new requirements included a more detailed formal complaint process, as well as structuring the policy so that people are able to read it and understand the full range of services available.
One of the most contentious parts during the creation of the sexual violence policy was the inclusion of the term “rape culture.” Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah, president of Carleton’s Graduate Student Association (GSA), said she would have liked to see more mention of rape culture in the policy, and said it is not enough just to define the term.
“I know for a lot of the folks at the GSA, we wanted for there to be a much more detailed approach to addressing rape culture,” she said. “They address it in the definitions but we don’t see it continued throughout the entire policy.”
Suzanne Blanchard, vice-president (students and enrolment) at Carleton, said many people felt strongly about the inclusion of the term and some disagreed with it.
“In the end, we wanted to acknowledge that difference, and that’s why we included the definition in the document,” Blanchard said.
Sugar said the the policy tries to reflect the differences between the two sides of the debate over rape culture.
“It’s a difficult thing to try to get both of those things in one document, when you have such a contentious thing, where people feel very strongly for it, very strongly against it,” she said.
Blanchard said the university tried hard to engage with all the stakeholders on campus, and with the overall Carleton community.
“We’ve tried hard to produce our draft of the policy that addresses many of the different facets and it’s very complex, while at the same time at meeting all the requirements of the legislation,” she said.
Owusu-Akyeeah said the draft takes “baby steps” in the right direction and said that some of the things the GSA brought forward are addressed in it.
“We found that there was a little bit about the survivor-centric approach to it, but there was still some things missing like community oversight,” she said.
Owusu-Akyeeah said the GSA wanted the policy to be reviewed every year so it could be adapted as needed. As it is now however, the policy will be reviewed every three years.
She also said she would have liked to see amnesty and immunity for people who come forward saying they have been sexually assaulted on campus. She said this would protect them from academic penalties for missing class or from being sued.
“[The] administration has heard what students have said, but I feel like it’s a teaser,” Owusu-Akyeeah said.
Fahd Alhattab, president of the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA), said he is happy with the policy and that the association will be giving their feedback on it to the university.
“There were a lot of initial concerns in terms of what would be included, what wouldn’t be, how far would they go, but there’s a few reoccurring themes that we’re really really happy with,” he said.
Alhattab echoed Owusu-Akyeeah’s thoughts on the inclusion of rape culture. He said it’s good it was included, but more could have been done to address the term in the policy.
“It’s in there, it can be part of the discussion and it can be part of future sexual assault policies,” Alhattab said. “Is it addressed as it should be? No, I think they could have done a more extensive section that discussed it.”
Owusu-Akyeeah said she is happy the university has asked the student body for their thoughts on the policy, but said the university has to actually take into account what students say for the final version.
“From the looks of it it looks like the only people who are going to see these suggestions are going to be the administration committees or bodies who look at the policy,” she said. “What that means is that they are the ones who decide what suggestions are worth including and what is not.”
According to Sugar, the feedback they’ve received so far has ranged from one to two sentences, to two pages.
“[It’s] as engaged as people want to be,” Sugar said. “We’re here, you know, we’re listening to what everyone has to say.”
Students will be able to provide feedback on the draft policy until Oct. 28.
“What we’re really hoping for is that the community engages and at this point in time,” Blanchard said. “We’ve been getting some really constructive comments about the policies and everyone is working together in terms of getting a policy that reflects our community.”
