The University of Connecticut established a new President’s Council on Combating Sexual Violence and Harassment following the completion of the President’s Task Force on Combating Sexual Violence and Supporting Our Students.
The task force began in spring 2022 and completed its work in summer, according to UConn Today. According to The Daily Campus, student Alexandra Docken stood outside the Rowe Center for Undergraduate Education holding a sign that said “I was raped, and UConn silenced me” in February 2022, leading to campus protests on UConn’s alleged mishandling of sexual assault.
“The task force was charged with evaluating how UConn educates, prevents and responds to sexual violence,” according to a UConn Today article.
The new council is tasked with monitoring the implementation of recommendations from the original task force, providing feedback on UConn policies and more. The council held its first meeting in early November, according to UConn Today. Students and faculty can apply to be on the council until Dec. 8.
“The council will also address the need for ongoing communication between students and the UConn administration to monitor and evaluate progress,” the article states. “Implementing any recommendations will be accompanied by feedback on the impact of students, faculty and staff experiences.”
Grian Wizner, a seventh semester secondary English education major and president of Revolution Against Rape, applied to be on the council along with fellow RAR member Julia Stout.
Wizner said that RAR’s goals include ensuring that all blue phone lights on campus are functional, providing resource brochures to students and pushing for timely investigations of rape and sexual assault.
“We’ve had a couple of people come up and be like ‘hey, this happened to me and it took UConn months for them to get back to me,’” Wizner said.
“Some officers don’t really believe sexual assault survivors, unfortunately,” Wizner said. “I’ve had a couple of people say they wouldn’t even talk to them unless they had video proof of what was happening, which was crazy.”
UConn’s 2024 Student Experience Survey, which included questions on sexual and interpersonal violence, was completed by 2.5% of students who were invited to participate, or 773 out of 30,777 students.
Survey data shows that of students who experienced sexual and interpersonal violence and did not report it, 26% did not report it because they were concerned that they would not be believed or would be blamed and 30% did not think they would be taken seriously.
Regarding students who did report sexual or interpersonal violence to a campus official, 65% said they were given support and resources, while 35% said that their report was not taken seriously and 6% said that they were blamed or not believed.
Wizner claimed that police do not know how to interact with students in a crisis and that police need better training to help survivors in a crisis.
“We also want better training for the [UConn Police Department], because at least from RAR’s perspective, we are obviously not like ‘the police are so great,’ but on the other side, if we have them, I want them to be better suited to support survivors in a crisis, because I feel like they’re not,” Wizner said.
UConn’s 2023 Annual Fire and Security report covers training for officers in UConn’s Special Victims Unit.
“This team of police officers receives specialized training in many areas of sexual violence that goes beyond the minimum requirements for police officers set by the State of Connecticut,” the report says. “Specialized training includes management of investigations, use of a victim-orientated approach and current trends at colleges and universities.”
According to a university website, the UCPD works closely with the Women’s Center and victims of a crime have “the right to timely disposition of the case following arrest of the accused, provided no right of the accused is abridged.”
Wizner expressed optimism over the creation of the council, but stated that until meetings occur, he would not be able to tell if the council would be effective.
“At least they’re trying to include people and not have administrators come in and be the voices for students,” Wizner said. “I’m really, really, really hoping that it would be good […] but I can’t really say anything until a meeting has been held, or I go sit in on a meeting, or I am part of the council.”
The UConn Today article outlines the structure of the council.
“It will conduct business using a two-tiered structure,” the article says. “There will be a core steering committee consisting of the co-chairs of each sub-committee and members of key stakeholder constituencies.”
Interim Assistant Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Kathleen Holgerson anticipates that the full council will meet once per semester while subcommittees will meet monthly.
Regarding student knowledge of resources, 66% of students who took the survey said that they learned about sexual or interpersonal violence through classes, trainings or other programs, 54% said that they understood what happens when sexual or interpersonal violence is reported, but only 42% knew where to get help.
The UConn Today article said that UConn was accepted into the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education, which includes over 50 other institutions.
UConn President Radenka Maric and Provost Anne D’Alleva wrote a commitment letter to the NASEM collaborative.
“We are committed to ensuring that all members of our community are free from harassment, intimidation and discrimination,” they said. “A supportive community enables us to reach our full potential as educators, researchers and professionals and helps ensure that our students can access the full range of opportunities they need to become fully prepared for life journeys.”
Update: This article was updated on Dec. 4 to include additional information about the structure of the council.