Gender-Based Violence Prevention Advisory Group discusses sexual violence prevention

UNC will provide amnesty to people who report incidents of sexual violence that occurred during violations of COVID-19 guidelines this semester, said Rebecca Gibson, a report and response coordinator at the Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office at a meeting of the Gender-Based Violence Prevention Advisory Group. 

The group met Thursday morning to draft immediate and long-term solutions to sexual violence among students, faculty and employees at UNC. This marks the group's second general meeting of the fall semester after its creation this year. 

Members discussed plans to host a survivor space to get feedback from student organizations and activists that are working to prevent sexual violence on campus, as well as a campus-wide event later on. 

One of the group’s main focuses is ensuring UNC adapts to the Department of Education’s changes to Title IX legislation, which were released in May. 

By the end of the semester, members hope to publish an initial draft of their updates to UNC’s Prevention Task Force Report — a series of guidelines and recommendations first released in 2017 aimed at preventing sexual violence on campus. 

“It may seem a little challenging and hopeless based on history and how we know things on culture, but I have a little bit of optimism,” said Human Development and Family Studies Program Director Helyne Frederick. “...(the) timing is good to cause some disruption.”

Student members said that — in order to implement concrete change — campus culture must shift dramatically and the University’s administration needs to provide more resources and programs to marginalized groups on campus. 

“Without the administration being like ‘There seriously does need to be a culture change and a culture shift and a shift in the way we also think about these issues,’ I think a lot of the changes will be surface-level,” Shareen El Naga, a senior majoring in political science, said. “Even if there are changes, I find it hard to accept that they will make a big change without those other things moving or shifting in place.”

Frederick, in agreement, said several of her Latinx and Black colleagues feel “tired” and “hopeless” in response to issues at UNC that have been left unattended or unresolved. 

“We should have a big wide window where we can put our issues to the forefront,” Frederick said. 

Neel Swamy, a graduate student at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, said the group must obtain support from student groups that have “benefitted from the power dynamics of gender-based violence.”

“Too often, the burden of addressing violence prevention falls on the shoulders of cisgender and transgender women, and individuals who are non-binary,” Swamy said. “I think that's completely wrong and that speaks to the need for men to be involved in the conversation.”

Chairperson LB Klein said there aren’t enough sexual violence prevention resources for those in graduate or professional programs. 

Because of this, Klein said that the group is working to create a “toolkit” that provides violence prevention resources and information to these students. 

“I can't name a professional or graduate student that doesn't need to know about this for their professional training,” Klein said. “Our undergraduate students clearly need this information and training as well for their preparation for the future.” 

Other ideas that were discussed at the Thursday meeting include creating a violence prevention plan that would be distributed to incoming students at UNC, as well as adding sexual assault prevention into the curriculum for UNC’s First Year Thriving course. 

As of now, the two-credit class is not a graduation requirement for students. 

“We're seeing some strides there because the rest of society is talking about it, so there's that  pressure,” Frederick said. “So, how do we raise those issues? What do we do? I feel like we really need to get the data and experiences from the student’s perspective, both nationally and on campus, to really drive home that point.” 

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