“New School University’s re-drafting faulty Sexual Assault Policy”

A group of staff and students at The New School prepare a revision of The University’s Sexual Harassment Policy to present it in a Board of Regents meeting in April. The policy, available online through Student Services, has not been revised since 2004. According to Ms. Tamara Oyola, a health educator at the New School, as well as a member of the ‘re-drafting team,’ the new policy is being “Embedded in a more supportive ‘what to do?’”

Oyola indicated the faults of the current policy, such as: it contains a lot of legal procedures, grey definitions yet not enough update information on both University resources or Community resources. Rihannon Love Auriemma, a student from the University’s Feminist Collective who’s been actively engaged in the process of re-drafting the policy with Student Services Staff, expanded on the faults of the current policy: “The current policy is extremely flawed. Basically, it says nothing about assault. There is no definition of consent, which is key. A definition of consent not only established what is considered assault by the school but is a valuable tool for students in terms of sexual education. Also, the policy dictates a reporting process that is not transparent in the slightest sense which we pinpointed as a major problem.”

Those who were interviewed and have been involved in the process claim to be satisfied with how it has developed, and are just optimistically cautious about the meeting in April.
According to the Policy, The University is required by Federal Law to provide statistics of incidences of assault on campus. The main question with this in perspective is, as Oyola puts it, “are we clearly defining what we are counting as ‘assault’?” and, “is what’s reported representative of what’s happening at campus?”

Every time a Policy is to be written or revised at The New School, it is up to the pertinent department to draft it. Tracy Robbins, Assistant Vice President for Student Health & Support Services, faced this task along with Oyola and other team members from Student Services. At the same time, the Feminist Collective was in conversation with SAFER (Students Active For Ending Rape), and organization dedicated to “help organize change by empowering student-led campaigns to reform college sexual assault policies,” according to their Website. The collective organized, back in October, a teach-in with the organization that included a policy-writing workshop. During the exercise, the students realized the faults in their own University’s Sexual Harassment-Assault Policy. Ms. Robbins could not be contacted for an interview on time, but according to Oyola, Robbins reached out to The Feminist Collective, thinking they would provide the ideal student input to the process.

Julia Taveras