System officials invite comment on safety

Officials of the UNC system invited the public to offer policy recommendations on Monday in the latest step to improve systemwide campus safety.

About 80 task force members, campus administrators, students and parents gathered in groups to discuss alcohol and drug use and sexual assault reporting. The system group posed questions about the link between sexual assault and alcohol consumption, as well as whether students should sit on the panel of sexual assault cases.

The task force will take the recommendations into account when formulating the final draft of its campus safety proposal, said Kandace Farrar, academic and student affairs program assistant for the system.

The campus security group plans to present the recommendations to system President Tom Ross by April.

Most forumgoers recommended panels on student sexual assault or other serious offense cases should not include students, but that students should be allowed to sit in on honor court proceedings, provided that they receive training.

In November, UNC-CH’s Sexual Assault Task Force recommended that students no longer sit on sexual assault adjudication panels.

Judy Haas, director of student conduct at Appalachian State University, said students on sexual assault panels have often come out of those hearings in need of therapy and long-term help because evidence can be graphic.

“You look at your campus differently,” she said. “You didn’t buy into that when you came to Appalachian … it’s not easy to go back to student life.”

Many also agreed that education of students, administrators and even potential perpetrators is essential in preventing alcohol and drug abuse and sexual assault.

Monika Johnson Hostler, executive director of the N.C. Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said campuses need to redefine sexual violence and overcome gender stereotypes to fairly acknowledge all victims.

“(We need to) begin to change our culture and subculture on campus, and change the way we understand sexual violence,” she said. “It’s not just women, but it’s also men.”

Some of the participants also pointed out the importance of peer pressure, both as a driving force behind — and as a tool to reduce — student drug and alcohol use.

And some suggested that campus administrators reach out to student groups, starting with sports teams and Greek life, to use peer pressure intervention against irresponsible drinking.

But the diverse cultural niches and sizes of each system campus could make it difficult to implement a standard set of campus safety policies across the system — but not impossible, said Joanne Woodard, vice provost for institutional equity and diversity at N.C. State University.

System schools will be able to mold the policies to fit their individual campus, said N.C. Agricultural & Technical State University Chancellor Harold Martin, co-chairman of the initiative.

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