Editor’s note: As of March 15, 2019, this article has been updated to include further comment from Bailey Reid, sexual assault services coordinator, to clarify the role of Equity Services in the Sexual Violence Review Committee.
Carleton Equity Services will no longer be a part of the formal reporting process of sexual violence cases at Carleton, as announced at a March 6 Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) council meeting.
Bailey Reid, a coordinator for Carleton’s Sexual Assault Support Services, gave a report to council about the progress made with this year’s update to the university’s Sexual Violence Policy (SVP).
“We’ve made the decision to step away from that process, and now Equity Services will be solely for support and prevention,” Reid said.
Before this year, Reid said the director of Equity Services used to sit on the sexual violence review committee and be involved with investigations that are part of the formal reporting process around sexual violence cases at Carleton.
“In order to strengthen our capacity, and fulfill our mandate of support, accommodation and prevention, Equity Services has made the decision to resign from the Sexual Violence Review Committee (SVRC) and from the role of co-ownership of the Sexual Violence Policy,” Reid told the Charlatan in an email after the meeting.
“This allows us to advocate for survivors on campus more fully, and without the potential conflict of also having a role in the policy process,” she said.
Equity Services’ decision to step away from the formal hearing process will allow for more freedom in terms of advocacy and providing support to survivors of sexual violence, Reid told council.
Consultations for the SVP has been underway throughout this school year. With a new draft of the policy currently available online for viewing, the next phase of consultations is being done through closed workshops with specific groups on campus.
These groups include racialized and Indigenous students, students with disabilities, international students, graduate students, residence students, and students who identify as LGTBQ+.
Reid told councillors Carleton also has a new strategy surrounding sexual violence currently in the works—separate from the SVP—that will be open to continued feedback from members of the campus community. She said the new strategy will in effect be “the opposite of the [Sexual Violence] Policy.”
“The strategy will utilize many of the suggestions received in the feedback process that are more actionable in nature, and not applicable for the policy,” she said in an email. The strategy is in the development process and will provide a “roadmap” for the next three years, according to Reid.
Members of the Carleton community can provide feedback to the current draft of the SVP until March 15. The next draft will be the final policy presented to Carleton’s Board of Governors for ratification.
—With files from Tim Austen
Photo by Tim Austen
