The Case for Campus Sexual Assault Policies

On May 18, British Columbia will join Ontario in requiring post-secondary institutes to have comprehensive sexual assault policies.

The provincial bill categorizes many acts of sexual violence as “misconduct,” a choice of words I still cannot quite understand.

Still, these are much needed policies. Several universities around the country already have them, including the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, and Simon Fraser University.

The University of British Columbia is the latest to join the list. The board of governors was set to approve the policy today and it will take effect on May 18.

The path to the policy was rocky. During consultations, some criticized the policy as “Marxist” because it discusses privilege, while others criticized it for not going far enough.

Some people asked why the university has any role to play. Sexual assault is a criminal matter and therefore should be left to the police, they maintained.

Others said the university should not intervene because the consequences — expulsion or firing — are life changing for students or faculty.

And being sexually assaulted isn’t life changing? Why is the safety of students, faculty and staff less important than the career prospects of those who are sexually violent?

I’m not the first person arguing for such policies, and not even the first from UBC.

But the arguments against such policies merit explanation.

Why not just leave it to police? It’s not one or the other. Reporting an assault to the university administration does not mean a victim cannot also seek justice in the court system. (Interestingly, the provincial University Act gives an alleged perpetrator the opportunity to appeal the disciplinary action for misconduct, but not victims.)

Universities have a responsibility to offer a safe place for learning, working and living for those who reside on campus. They also have the ability to make accommodations, even before disciplinary measures, that can limit trauma to victims.

For example, say a man gropes a woman in a dorm room. There is no other witness. There might be no disciplinary action, but the university can still accommodate the female student’s right to safety by changing her housing or offering her access to counselling or peer support.

The university can also deal with sexual assault issues like unwanted advances, which the RCMP is less equipped to deal with. A victim might not want to pursue criminal charges, but could use alternative resolution methods facilitated by the university to deter the perpetrator.

No one institution has all the right tools and responses are evolving, as the pledge by Halifax police to “start-by-believing” by victims and the reopening of dismissed sexual assault cases by the RCMP show.

Issues of sexual violence are complex and draw on power imbalances entrenched within society. More, not fewer, options for recourse should be the way forward.

Other critics fail to recognize that although the Canadian legal system recognizes substantive equality — the requirement to provide everyone a real chance to participate in the legal process — as an overarching value, it is still not set up to protect victims from being re-traumatized.

Consider this scenario. A woman is describing an assault. But her memory seems disjointed and the chronology doesn’t make sense. She does not express any emotion and makes minimal eye contact. For police investigators, these signal dishonesty. For mental health specialist, they are signs of trauma.

Disassociation and memory gaps can be addressed in a trauma-informed approach, which universities can provide. They can choose to provide their communities with a reporting, support and investigation system that is set up in a way that recognizes victims’ trauma. As Canadian universities hire people to provide support and investigation services they can bring in people with experience in trauma-informed practices. Ideally, police would align their practices with this model, but that will require extensive training and legislation — and advocacy.

There is a lot more work to be done to address issues of sexual violence on university campuses.

But comprehensive policies are a positive first step. Now we need to see if they’re followed and if there is funding to allow implementation of effective sexual assault policies.

Note for the reader

I make an active choice in using the word “victim” and not “survivor” when describing those who have faced sexual violence. I do not think that the word itself makes the person lose agency or appear helpless. Victim makes it clear that there is a perpetrator. Someone who committed an atrocity. One can be a survivor of cancer too, or survive an earthquake. There is no direct link to a body (or multiples bodies) committing violence on another.