This story is one part of a series of articles on sexual assault awareness at the University of Oregon. Read Emerald editor Sami Edge’s letter to find out why we’ve dedicated today’s edition of Emerald Monday to the topic.
On April 3, Interim President Scott Coltrane announced the University of Oregon’s plan to fight sexual assault. The plan includes the hiring of a new assistant vice president, whose responsibilities will include the coordination of the university’s responses to Title IX inquiries and complaints, as well as leading the university’s efforts to reduce sexual violence on campus.
Currently, these responsibilities fall upon Penny Daugherty, the university’s Title IX officer and director of the Office of Affirmative Action & Equal Opportunity. According to Daugherty, this position will not replace her own, but instead will focus exclusively on Title IX, which will ensure that there is someone who can devote ongoing attention to all areas related to Title IX.
Daugherty’s title will change to deputy Title IX coordinator with a focus on investigations. She will remain director of the AAEO.
“So with that person taking on that coordinating role, I’m actually going to be able to focus specifically on the investigations, where this person then can be working on looking at all of the other pieces that go along with Title IX compliance,” Daugherty said.
The Office of the Dean of Students did not respond to interview requests, but according to communications specialist Jen McCulley, the President’s Review Panel and the Senate Task Force recommended that a high level administrator be hired to coordinate all aspects of sexual violence prevention and response at the administrative level.
“Because the vast majority of programmatic efforts around sexual violence fall within Student Life, having a dual line of reporting to the president and the VP for Student Life was deemed appropriate,” McCulley said via email.
“Addressing sexual violence on campus is a key priority for the university. Coordinating efforts between departments and programs across campus will enable the UO to move the president’s plan of action forward more effectively and efficiently,” McCulley said.
The ASUO Women’s Center’s sexual violence prevention and education coordinator, Michele Prism, is excited for the new position and hopes the right person is selected for the job. Prism’s ideal candidate would be someone who has all of the required qualifications and uses “survivor-centered” language and behavior.
“It’s still possible to have all these required qualifications and not have someone that is absolutely educated in what being survivor-centered is,” Prism said. According to Prism, this survivor-centered language would prevent “victim-blaming” and ensure that students facing sexual harassment and assault will feel supported and validated.
“You can have the intention to be survivor-centered and not really be the model for that in your language and your actions,” Prism said.
According to Daugherty, ensuring a safe and respectful environment for students is important to the university. Since different UO offices began being very intentional in thinking through their protocol, Daugherty said that there has been an increase in the number of reports of sexual misconduct each year.
“My interpretation of that is not that we are seeing significant increase in activity, but we have more people coming forward to report that activity,” Daugherty said.
“It tells me that there’s greater awareness, at least on the part of victims, and we’re building some trust with those victims,” Daugherty said, “that they’re coming forward.”
Follow Francesca Fontana on Twitter @francescamarief