Four interim recommendations have been put forward to combat gender-based and sexual violence on campus at Western University.
The gender-based and sexual violence action (GBSV) committee submitted the suggested actions to the president’s office this week. The committee was formed in the wake of student walkouts that followed online allegations that students were drugged and sexually assaulted during the post secondary institution’s orientation week last fall. It is made up of students, faculty, and community experts.
While the committee’s final report isn’t due out until the spring, it released the four interim suggestions in hopes they would be enacted immediately.
The recommendations focus on student safety and well-being. They include:
-Making new students aware of Western’s values and stance on gender-based and sexual violence and safety before they arrive on campus.
-Ensuring that Sophs and other student mentors are well-trained and appropriately supported in their roles.
-Review programs implemented in student residences to address gender-based and sexual violence to determine their success.
-Add at least two more gender-based and sexual violence staff to support training and education.
“We need quick solutions, and we also need lasting solutions,” said committee member Kirstyn Seanor. “With a complex issue like this it often takes a large team to collaborate, and everyone has been so willing to dig into the question of how we can do better.”
In addition to the recommendations, the committee has also sent surveys to students, staff, and more than 30 community agencies and groups including the London Coordinating Committee to End Woman Abuse. The survey results will be used to help identify core issues and find solutions to preventing gender-based and sexual violence and how best to support survivors.
The committee’s full list of recommendations can be found by clicking here.
