OTTAWA ? After numerous attacks on campus and mounting pressure from students, Carleton University was to announce plans on Wednesday to open a support centre for victims of sexual assault.
President Roseann Runte said the new, university-run office ? which will be housed on the fifth floor of Robertson Hall ? will offer counselling to victims of sexual assault, as well as awareness and education campaigns and training for student volunteers.
?We look forward to working with students on this initiative,? Runte said in an email to the university community, obtained by The Citizen on Tuesday.
But the president did not comment further, referring questions instead to Linda Capperauld, the director of equity services, the department that will house the new centre.
Capperauld explained that Carleton officials looked at similar centres or hotlines at universities in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal before choosing a model similar to what?s in place at the University of Alberta ? where the university?s administration operates the centre.
?We want students to be a primary player in the centre ? we want them to develop programs, lead programs, do the outreach ? but we also acknowledge this is a really important issue, the repercussions of sexual assault for many individuals are really serious, and that we need to ensure that there is an appropriate level of supervision,? she said.
The Coalition for a Carleton Sexual Assault Support Centre, which has been operating and self-funding a crisis line using volunteers? personal cellphones since March 2010, has called for a student-run centre on campus for several years.
There?s no budget or official opening date yet, but Capperauld said the new centre will hopefully be up and running by September.
In addition to housing the equity services department ? which already employs Carleton?s coordinator of sexual assault services ? Robertson Hall is located in proximity to both the campus safety office and health and counselling services.
It?s also more private than other well-travelled buildings such as the University Centre. ?It?s a location that allows for some privacy for individuals who may not walk into a centre that?s in a much more public kind of domain,? Capperauld said.
Once renovations are complete, the office will share a reception area with equity services and feature a meeting space, an office for the coordinator and a private room for counselling victims.
Capperauld will be striking an advisory committee in the next few weeks made up of students, staff and faculty to oversee the launch of the new centre. A member of the student coalition will be offered a spot too, she said, adding she had planned to inform the group of the news on Tuesday (she herself learned about it on the Friday before Christmas).
Advocates began pushing for a crisis centre after a savage attack on a student in a school laboratory in 2007.
There were three sexual assaults and a physical assault on women on campus last fall. One man has been arrested in connection with two of the incidents.
Carleton, Runte says in her email, has made ?significant investments? in counselling and support services, in addition to more than $2 million in campus safety upgrades, including more lights, emergency phone boxes, foot and bike patrols and cameras.
It?s also a safe place to study, she wrote.
?Nonetheless, we will continue to improve the services we offer and endeavour to make the campus an even safer place. We all have an active role to play in effecting change and ending sexual violence,? the president wrote in the email.
Capperauld echoed Runte?s message, adding the new centre will build on the university?s current services and develop better awareness programs and access to resources. ?It just opens up the door for better education and awareness, which is where I think we need to put our focus in the future.?
mpearson@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/mpearson78
? Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
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