In comparison to last year’s absolute downpour of discussion about how to handle sexual assault on campus, the little information disseminated this semester seems like a trickle in comparison.
A year ago, UNC helped launch a national conversation about sexual assault, yet the student body has received very little concrete information about how sexual assault will be handled in the future.
The latest campus-wide email about Sexual Assault was sent on Dec. 17, yet it held an unsatisfying amount of news on the subject, only reporting on changes decided upon a month prior, agreeing that adjudication would happen through panels that would not feature students.
As of August 2012, the student-led honor court was removed from sexual assault, effectively removing students from these discussions. To then say again, over a year later, that students would not be involved is nothing more than a clarification.
The sexual assault task force has been meeting since May. The search for a new Title IX Compliance Coordinator has been completed for months . The administration has not yet clarified what the true role of the Title IX office will be going forward. The office would do well to explain their goals and time frame.
The longer it takes to draft a conclusive policy, the less time the campus — including students, faculty, the Board of Trustees and student government — has to vet it.
Those who were students, protesting and obsessing, at the height of discussion on sexual assault may well be alumni by the time a policy is rendered, taking them out of the equation all together. All members of this campus are affected by the way UNC handles sexual assault and deserve to know what to expect from the task force.
