Sexual violence impacts us all.
Sexual violence impacts us all.
Campus Sexual Violence doesn’t only happen in residence. Campus Sexual Violence refers to an entire culture that is linked to our campuses—this means U of A students, their contacts, and peers, violence that occured on University properties, and even involving instances of relationships and power structures that in some way represent the U of A, or exist due to the University, University student groups or faculty/department associations.
What this also means is that Campus Sexual Violence is not “solved” or a non-issue just because a majority of classes are currently being provided remotely. If anything, our new remote circumstances mean that it’s more important than ever to get rid of the idea that Campus Sexual Violence only occurs in residences.
Sexual Assault is defined as an assault of a sexual nature that violates the sexual integrity of the victim. The Supreme Court of Canada held that the act of sexual assault does not depend solely on contact with any specific part of the human anatomy but rather the act of a sexual nature that violates the sexual integrity of the victim.
The U of A's internal Sexual Violence Management Audit was prepared during Winter Term 2022 at the request of the Board Audit and Risk Committee.
It exclusively focused on the effectiveness of the university's policies and procedures for complaints of sexual violence and harassment, and the effectiveness of sexual violence and harassment prevention systems.
The largest remaining gap in the policy suite is the policies' deference to collective agreements (e.g. in section 5(d)(i-ii) of the new SGBV Disclosures Procedure). This is largely unavoidable within the scope of policy development but will require institutional will and commitment to fix.
One of the requirements from Minister of Advanced Education Demetrios Nicolaides was ensuring procedural fairness. However, we cannot talk about procedural fairness and build a University community where by default a student faces inequitable reporting and investigation mechanisms due to collective agreement.
University’s SGBV policy is incapable of addressing the —student-staff power dynamics. That's also why the University needs to strengthen its policies around student-instructor relationships. Collective agreements negotiations are distinct from policy change processes and protecting faculty and staff.
Mandatory consent and sexual violence prevention training across our community is also a crucial, missing commitment from this latest audit.
As part of the University's commitment to diversity and inclusion of students at Campus Saint-Jean (CSJ), all policy and relevant supporting documents must be made available in French.
Francophone students admitted to CSJ deserve access to this information in the language that they understand best, in alignment with the CSJ admissions requirements.
The audit did not mention Augustana campus, and the much-needed resources that are needed there to address and prevent sexual violence.
Augustana students are UAlberta students. They require the same level of safety and dignity as any other on their home campus.