During the last spring semester and this current fall semester there have been allegations that a Resident Assistant sexually assaulted girls in the dorm hall. No recent cases have been reported with UW police, Albany County Courthouse, or the STOP Violence program with similar claims.
“I don’t know of it this year, I know of it last year,” Downey Hall Resident Assistant Rachel MacDonald said. “I really hate to be rude to other RAs, but sometimes that does happen. It’s part of the reason they changed the hiring process this year.”
In addition to an application and interview and training, students interested in becoming RAs must also take a course that further evaluates their character.
“If you fail the class, you can’t be considered,” MacDonald said. “If you pass the class, you have a chance of being an RA.”
“RAs also take Sexual Misconduct and Duty to Report, like our professionals,” Rian Rabideau, Assistant Director of Resident Life and Dining, said. “Additionally, Megan Selheim from STOP Violence presents to all RAs during August and January Training.”
As of last year, UW opened up a Safe Project office on campus in Knight Hall. Safe Project is the Albany County program for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking and is open to the community as well.
“Compared to last October, there have been more [reports],” said Alicia Selfridge, Safe Project UW Campus Advocate. “It started off slow this semester, but it has been picking up.”
“We are actually finishing up the hiring process of a full time investigator to work out of the Dean of Students Office, because we have had enough reports at this point that we really need a dedicated person to do it,” Megan Selheim, STOP Violence Program Coordinator said.
If a sexual assault report is filed to a staff member of the university, then the Dean of Students Office is notified, and will then reach out to the student.
“There are a couple of offices on campus that are not required to make a mandatory report. Those are the Counselors, Student Health and advocates, such as myself,” said Selheim.
Once the Dean of Students office makes contact with the student who reported the assault and makes sure that that student is aware of counseling services or support groups on campus. Then it is up to the survivor to decide if they wish to pursue an investigation.
“The university initiates an investigation, and it’s a combination of a couple different components,” Selheim said. “That is talking to people who were involved, bystander accounts and any content or material that anyone is willing to provide. Commonly that’s text messages and social media messages.”
After the investigator collects all the material and student accounts about what happened from both parties, they make a decision as to whether or not they think it is more likely than not that the reported behavior happened.
“A lot of that is based on whether they feel one student is more credible than the other,” said Selheim.
If it is decided the reported assault more than likely took place, then a previously uninvolved hearing officer will come in and read the reports of the incident, hear the testimonies of the students involved, and decide if the reported student is responsible for violating the UW Code of Conduct. The hearing officer also recommends what the accountability measures are going to be.
“One of the things we get asked a lot is if that means the problem is getting worse, or if it’s just more people reporting,” said Selheim. “We tend to think that it means, in a sense, that the problem is getting better, because we think that it’s an increase in reporting and not an increase in incidents. If people are more comfortable making reports, then that suggests that the community is more supportive of survivors.”
At the Cowboy vs. Fresno football game on Nov. 18, the STOP Violence program and Safe Project will be giving a half time speech about sexual assault awareness and have tables set up for more information.
