After a number of sexual assaults at Carleton in 2011, the university announced they would open an administration-run sexual assault support centre in the fall of 2012.
Now, months after the centre was supposed to open, we are told that construction for the centre will be open at the end of March 2013. The university has not given a reason for the delays.
This is simply unacceptable.
Although the university has created a series of public service announcements since the announcement of the centre, they have not done enough to ensure the sexual assault support centre opens in a timely manner.
After gauging the need of Carleton students, the student-based Coalition for a Carleton Sexual Assault Support Centre mobilized quickly and began operating an emergency phone line out of their own pockets. Although this is far from an ideal situation, it is testament to what students can accomplish and how valued these students should be in the creation of the centre.
The university needs to appreciate the resource that they have in the coalition and work with them to ensure the sexual assault support centre gets off the ground in a timely and well-thought manner.
It makes sense to take the time to do something correctly, but it is also necessary to make sure that this resource becomes available to students as soon as possible.
It is absolutely ridiculous that the university has not more heavily involved the coalition and taken advantage of the resources they have in the students involved.
Although a year has passed since the string of sexual assaults were reported in Nov. 2011, a sexual assault support centre is no less important now that it was then.
Carleton’s administration needs to step up to the task and begin actually working with students to make sure they get the sexual assault support centre off the ground as quickly as possible.
