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Friday, March 29, 2024
Several UW-Madison staff members presented to ASM Shared Governance Committee Wednesday on sexual assault prevention initiatives on campus.

Several UW-Madison staff members presented to ASM Shared Governance Committee Wednesday on sexual assault prevention initiatives on campus.

ASM panel aims to make sexual assault reporting process more transparent

In an effort to increase transparency regarding the prevention of sexual assault and the steps taken by UW-Madison after a case is reported, Associated Students of Madison hosted a panel of staff members involved in the processes Wednesday night.

University Health Services Violence Prevention Manager Samantha Johnson discussed initiatives to prevent sexual assault. She focused on the UGotThis! program and an in-person 90-minute dialogue aimed at preventing sexual violence in first-year communities.

Along with student-focused initiatives, Johnson said, “we [UHS] do a lot of heavy messaging to parents before students get to campus, providing them information on preventing at-risk drinking, violence, and sexual assault.”

Mary Eldridge, UHS victim advocate and survivor services coordinator, explained how students can reach out to UW staff to report sexual assault through both email and appointments.

“We try to figure out how they can get their needs met,” Eldridge said.

Eldridge also discussed the tools her team provides to sexual assault survivors.

“We can reach out to professors and ask for accommodation,”she said, in addition to reporting the assault to police if necessary.

Sexual assault survivors can also reach out to the campus’ Title IX coordinator, Lauren Hasselbacher, to get the resources they need. Hasselbacher described the process her team used when a student tells them they were assaulted.

“My first step is to reach out to resources, and sometimes that outreach is all that the student is looking for,” she said.

In terms of serious sexual assault complaints, the Title IX coordinator can initiate an investigation and provide a no-contact directive.

“One of the primary resources my office provides is the no contact directive. We can prohibit unnecessary social contacts and that is requested fairly often from students,” said Hasselbacher.

Another prevention service that UW-Madison is considering implementing is Callisto, an online platform that would exist on school websites where students can record the assault for their own needs and report it to a director if necessary.

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The goal of the website is to empower students to report the assault whenever they feel comfortable, as they can do it at any time of day.

“We want to make sure that anyone who is experiencing misconduct is aware of what’s available on campus,” Hasselbacher said.

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