The University of Oregon Domestic Violence Clinic has recently funded a new position that offers students free legal assistance with concerns related to domestic and sexual violence.
The clinic has existed for 15 years and also provides a class for law students to gain legal skills and help members of the Lane County community obtain protective and restraining orders.
Kasia Mlynski is the staff attorney at the clinic as well as a graduate from the UO School of Law. Her grant-funded position allows her to offer students who have experienced or are experiencing domestic violence her legal opinion and guidance.
“Our goal is to help student survivors of potential assault and offer free legal services,” Mlynski said. “That can range from anything from a consultation, if they want to know how the system works, if there are remedies for their situations or actually representing and helping them obtain a protective order.”
Merle Weiner, the faculty director of the Domestic Violence Clinic, provides the grant that allows Mlynski to offer these services. Weiner also teaches domestic abuse law at the UO law school and is a founder that has kept the clinic active over its 15-year lifespan.
“There was a great need for this new position,” Weiner said. “Statistics indicate that the rates of sexual assault on campus are high. However, there was no legal counsel on campus with the expertise and dedication to assist survivors.”
The law provides civil remedies for domestic violence, including sexual assault protective orders, but students don’t have access to these remedies as easily without legal counseling. The program is intended to offer students easier access to those remedies and help them decide on legal action.
According to psychotherapist Laurel Fine, “Domestic violence and sexual assault are traumatizing experiences, and survivors of both experience emotional and physical traumas, which can lead to anxiety disorders, most notably post-traumatic stress disorder.”
Seeking help is essential to recovery. Research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2010 shows one in four women (24.3 percent) and one in seven men (13.8 percent) experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner at some time in their life. Many cases go unreported.
Sgt. Lonnie Chavez of the Grand Junction Police Department in Colorado reported about Colorado State students and domestic violence.
“Seven out of ten (people abused) will say that nothing happened, that it was just an argument. It makes it difficult because we can’t do anything and we know it is happening, but there is nothing we can do (if they don’t report it).”
Confidentiality is important and the clinic has taken consideration of those who might be weary of coming forward with their cases.
“We are not required reporters of the university and we are protected by attorney/client privilege,” Mlynski said. “We have spoken to general counsel at the university and they are well aware that our files are protected… and are not accessible to the university unless they went through some form of legal process.”