By Dan FletcherThe Daily Northwestern
Searle Student Health Service might overhaul its sexual assault reporting procedures to prevent students from “falling through the cracks,” a health service official said.
Some changes being considered include starting a peer education group on campus and restoring an option to anonymously report sexual assaults, said Katie Guilfoyle, a health service administrator at Searle.
“Northwestern used to have a system where a survivor of sexual assault could make a report to a staff or faculty member at Northwestern, and none of their personal information is reported,” Guilfoyle said.
But that option no longer exists.
Currently, students can report a sexual assault to University Police or the Sexual Assault Hearing and Appeals System.
Guilfoyle said that while these methods enable the university to take action against assailants, the process also takes longer and makes it difficult for accusers to back out.
She said current statistics on the number of sexual assaults on campus are “very, very skewed,” possibly because of the current options for reporting sexual assault.
Anonymous reporting is a way to make sure the university records an accurate number of on-campus assaults while maintaining students’ control over the process, she said. Victims would be able to offer as much information as they want to give.
NU is required to keep statistics on sexual assault and make the records publicly available. In 2005, one sexual assault was reported.
If anonymous reporting becomes an option again, Guilfoyle said university employees would receive training in how to handle a report. There would be more organization to ensure incidents aren’t reported multiple times to multiple sources, a current concern, she said.
Guilfoyle is in the beginning stages of starting a peer education program on sexual assault as well. Fifteen students are involved in the planning phase. Guilfoyle said the topics the group might address range from birth control issues to sexual assault prevention and helping a victim.
Stephanie Gross, a Weinberg sophomore involved in the planning process for the group, said its first meeting will be Jan. 30.
Gross said she hopes to work as much as Searle officials will allow.
“I hope to make the student-Searle connection less awkward, and I’d like it to be a place where students in general can feel more comfortable,” she said.
Delphine Lee, a Weinberg junior, said she was working with Guilfoyle to organize and place the sexual assault response protocols on the HereAndNow Web site. Guilfoyle said the information is already available at several separate locations, but a Web site would be a good way to consolidate it.
“We want to have all the information available so if students need the procedures, they don’t have to call anyone or talk to anyone and can just go online,” Lee said.
Medill senior Robby Stein, Associated Student Government’s campus public relations chairman and a former Daily staffer, said the information would be put on the site when it is provided to him.
Mary Ho, a Weinberg junior, said Searle does not adequately publicize information on how students can deal with sexual assaults.
“In my three years that I’ve been here, I don’t think I’ve seen anything since New Student Week,” Ho said. “They need to go about it more proactively, have a lecture series or something like that.”
Ho said she thinks a peer education group might be helpful, and hopes that victims of sexual assault would share their experiences with students.
Guilfoyle said she thinks the education program will begin Spring Quarter, but that the reporting options are still under consideration.
Reach Dan Fletcher at [email protected].
