SaVE Act expands federally mandated reporting to include gender-based crimes
Four cases of stalking were reported on the University of Idaho campus in 2013, but no cases of domestic violence or dating violence were reported, according to the 2014 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report released earlier this month.
In security reports of years past, these gender-based crimes were virtually non-existent to the public.
The Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (SaVE) Act, an amendment to the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, updates the Clery Act to increase reporting transparency by disseminating a more expansive list of campus crimes and to better inform the public about the issue of gender-based harassment on federally financed college campuses nationwide.
While stalking, domestic violence and dating violence were not publicly reported prior to the most recent annual security report, UI still compiles different crimes that occur on campus for records even if they did not show up on the report.
Lauri Koster is the Clery coordinator and risk specialist for UI, and is in charge of compiling information from the Moscow Police Department, the UI Dean of Students Office and other safety groups in and around UI.
“The Moscow Police Department every morning sends out an incident report of different things that happened under their jurisdiction, and the ones that happen on campus are marked with a code. I put all those in a crime log,” Koster said.
The security report must also give an overview of the school’s disciplinary process for cases of gender-based harassment, including but not limited to sexual harassment and sexual assault. In addition, the SaVE Act requires all incoming students and employees to be informed of gender-based harassment resources, correct reporting protocols, bystander intervention techniques and rights available to victims and the accused.
During investigations of gender-based harassment, UI Women’s Center Director Lysa Salsbury said UI’s first and primary concerns are the health, safety and well being of students. She said such measures can include issuing no-contact orders, working with faculty and staff to switch housing or class schedules and informing a victim of resources such as the Counseling and Testing Center and Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse.
“Students still have the choice to cooperate or not with an investigation, and obviously we do our best to help the student understand it is ultimately within their best interests so they can receive assistance and service from the institution,” Salsbury said. “But, if a student decides ‘I am not going to talk to you,’ it’s their prerogative, and we can’t force them to.”
UI offers several gender-based harassment prevention and education programs. Salsbury said these programs include the bystander-intervention coalition Green Dot, the online safety module for incoming students called “Think About It,” as well as the harassment support groups Speaker’s Bureau and Safe Zone.
UI employees are also federally mandated under Title IX to be educated in their responsibilities as a mandated reporter of gender-based harassment. Chatriand said the university is working to inform employees of this obligation.
“A lot of what we talk to our faculty and staff about is what to do if a student discloses to you, if they’ve been sexually harassed or been a victim of sexual violence … and that is something done during new employee orientation,” Chatriand said.
Over the past couple years, Chatriand said a group consisting of himself, Salsbury, and a swath of other UI employees held informational sessions with UI departments to expand on subjects mentioned in new employee orientation related to gender-based harassment reporting.
According to Salsbury, this effort proved to be too colossal of an undertaking to accomplish due to the amount of employees at the university, so in order to more efficiently inform all employees of their federally mandated reporting obligations, an educational online module about Title IX responsibilities is in the works.
Salsbury said while the university is in compliance with Title IX regulations, the online module would be a supplementary training exercise for UI employees.
“There are over 5,000 employees at this university, and we have trained hundreds but we still have thousands left to go, and it’s not within our capacity to be able to get to every single employee in person,” she said. “Currently, (the module) is the most effective way of delivering the training and mandating it so it’s required.”
George Wood Jr. can be reached at [email protected]