Listening Meeting Update

June 27, 2014

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff:

I would like to thank the campus community members who attended our first Listening Meeting on June 23, at which we discussed the realignment of the Advocacy Center services. I believe it was an honest, heartfelt and productive dialogue that allowed us to clarify questions, enable campus community members to share their concerns and begin to think about next steps within the new structure.

As I shared at the meeting, having heard from many people since May 30, I do believe what we have in common is a strong desire to build a caring, understanding and connected community that is committed to preventing sexual assault and relationship violence.

As I indicated in my previous letter, we designated the Counseling Center to serve as the primary point of access for students seeking services related to sexual violence because of the following reasons:

• As a confidential and privileged resource, it affords students the maximum privacy under federal and state law.
• This will provide clarity to students affected by sexual violence and offer them a full sense of control and freedom to make choices that are right for them the moment they reach out and seek support.
• The center has 17 trained staff members who provide advocacy and counseling services to students impacted by sexual and/or relationship violence 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
• The University will continue reporting non-identifying information regarding incidents of sexual violence to the federal government and make that data publicly available.
• While the Advocacy Center is no longer a stand-alone entity, the services it provided will continue and be enhanced under the new structure.

At the Listening Meeting, five key themes emerged from both attendees and Student Affairs staff:

• Decision-making process
• Privileged vs. confidential
• Counseling Center services
• Centralization
• Educating the campus community about the new structure

A more complete summary of Monday’s meeting will be posted soon on the Student Affairs website. In addition, dates for future Listening Meetings, along with summaries of those meetings, will be posted there as well. Our next Listening Meeting will be held on July 30 from 4:30-6 p.m. in the Panasci Lounge at the Schine Student Center.

I look forward to hearing any new thoughts or concerns at future Listening Meetings in July and moving forward.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Reed Kantrowitz
Senior Vice President and Dean of Student Affairs