On Jan. 4, Carleton president Roseann Runte announced that an administration-run sexual assault support centre would be in place on campus by September 2012. In the week that followed, several campus groups became very vocal in their thoughts on the new centre. The Charlatan compiled key points from each statement.
Carleton University:
“The sexual assault centre will, in fact, operate from a non-medical model with student-centred services. Programs and services will also be available to staff and faculty . . . this centre is an important opportunity for students, staff and faculty to create new ways of working together to support survivors of sexual violence and to work towards eliminating sexual violence.”
— Linda Capperauld, director of the department of Equity Services.
Carleton University Academic Staff Association (CUASA):
“[CUASA] applauds the proposal to create a sexual assault support centre by the the Carleton University administration as a step towards eliminating sexual violence on campus. However, the university has ignored the student-centered, non-medical model put forward by students, faculty and staff.”
Graduate Students’ Association (GSA):
“Since 2007, students have been fighting for a student-run support centre — a place for peer-to-peer support for survivors of sexual violence and a site for information and campaigns that work towards ending rape culture . . . The Coalition had been in discussions with Equity Services over the past year with regards to a joint proposal for a student and university administered centre; all that has been thrown away by the president’s abrupt reversal.”
Sexual Assault Support Centre of Ottawa:
“While our organization has long supported the Carleton students’ call for the establishment of such a centre, we are deeply concerned that the university administration is directly ignoring the core elements of this call — that the centre be a student-run, peer support model.”
— Yamikani Msosa, Sexual Assault Support Centre of Ottawa public education co-ordinator, in the Ottawa Citizen.
Coalition for a Carleton Sexual Assault Centre:
“By planning to open an administration-run centre, the university has ignored and silenced the main message of students’ demands: that the centre be an independent and non-biased space for support. Reports on a sexual assault support centre consistently conclude that survivors find the most effective models to be those that employ non-medical, peer-support, and survivor-directed frameworks.”
