Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Recent CUNY news and policy updates

SGC would like to acknowledge the recent NY Post article that exposes a few CUNY schools in violation of complete compliance with the Clery Act and would like to present healthy dialogue on how this finding affects the inclusive policy process we have continually advocated for.

Under the Clery Act, mandated crimes to be reported include sex crimes that are forcible and non-forcible, such as rapes and sexual assaults. While this is a legal obligation of the school, it is only a superficial level of addressing the issue of sexual violence. Certainly, a college reporting sexual assaults on campus indicates a reasonable attempt of the college to openly acknowledge any incidences that have occurred. What is more salient, however, is that a college focus on preventing the atmosphere that allows for these crimes to happen.

The process for obtaining a CUNY-wide sexual assault policy has been so far a year and 2 months in counting and is expected to culminate with an approved policy by the Board of Trustees of CUNY in November. Some may wonder why has it taken so long?

The answer is not as one would probably be led to think.

From our point of view, CUNY could have simply accepted the idea of having a sexual assault policy and produced one within a few months. After all, it is mandated for colleges to have a sexual assault policy and this provides CUNY with a way to cover all 23 campuses. However, this process has considered many perspectives on ways to address sexual violence in an effort to not only have a mandated policy, but to have one that is holistic in it's approach to reduce the atmosphere of sexual violence that happens on campuses. Make no mistake about it that is an incredible responsibility and one that SGC helps to shoulder with great resolve. It is important to get this right, to set a precendent that CUNY has the foresight and will to ensure its students are fully protected from all angles of the law, and psychosocial considerations.

SGC will be holding a town hall meeting on October 22nd at Queens College to discuss the affect of the policy for practical implementation and to advance the dialogue surrounding sexual violence to get students to critically analyze the policy for constructive feedback. We look forward to updating you as the date approaches.

The taskforce expects to have a meeting to review the latest policy draft (which includes provisions for stalking) in late October.


To building a greater CUNY,

Elischia Fludd
Founder
Students for a Greater CUNY (SGC)




Become involved! Email us at cunypolicy08@gmail.com.

2 comments:

  1. This is an important piece and update! It is nice to know that the sexual assault policy was not rushed, and that a piece on stalking was added, which is revolutionary, for legislation on stalking is fairly new.Please keep up the great effort and work.

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  2. On behalf of the entire SGC, Thank You anonymous! It is certainly nice to be encouraged.

    Please feel free to help us spread the word. We will soon share more of our behind the scenes work for others to get involved with!

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