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NEWS
| Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Students provide feedback on proposed sexual assault policy
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Attendees debate legality of “guilty until proven innocent” measures in Sexual Assault Awareness Week workshop Hatty Liu Contributor A sexual assault policy proposed by students was the focus of a workshop last Thursday. The workshop was part of Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society’s (SACOMSS) annual Sexual Assault Awareness Week. Publicized on March 21, the proposed policy was drafted by eight campus groups, including SACOMSS, the Union for Gender Empowerment (UGE), and the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), following McGill’s Feb. 26 Forum on Consent. The proposed policy includes provisions on campuswide awareness campaigns and education, such as awareness training for organizers of events where high incidences of sexual assault are reported. It also calls for the policy to be made accessible online. Students at the event asked for clarification on portions of the proposal that recommended that perpetrators of alleged sexual assault be immediately subject to measures such as suspension from campus and removal from
positions of power. “If the perpetrator is in any positions of power, [such as a] faculty member, professor emeritus, member of the administration, coach, etc., they shall be removed from it,” the document reads. “This shall be done before any legal proceeding is complete and can be done as a suspension as to not interfere with external legal process.” Students expressed concern regarding the legality of such measures and the presumption of “guilty until proven innocent” that they seemed to carry. In response, UGE member Kai O’Doherty clarified that the specifics of the document had yet to be determined. “We don’t know yet what [specific measures] would look like, but [we believe] the university does have jurisdiction over what happens on campus, and can take measures like these […] so as to prevent perpetrators’ access to survivors,” O’Doherty said. “[The measures] will be made in a way that does not interfere with external legal processes.” Another facilitator of the event, Anaïs Cadieux van Vliet, stressed the importance of these measures.
SACOMSS is one of eight groups that drafted a sexual assault policy for McGill. (Wendy Chen / McGill Tribune) “[They] are part of making [a] sexual assault policy [that focuses] on supporting survivor experiences,” Cadieux van Vliet said. Attendees said the workshop was useful for clarifying the intent and meaning behind the individual clauses of the lengthy policy, which stands at eight pages with an 11-page appendix. “It’s a daunting document [on] an obviously really complicated issue, so I appreciated getting clarification on why [the
terms] look the way [they do],” Lillie Fradin, U1 Arts, said. “It [became] clear to me that McGill needs a sexual assault policy that is accessible as well as functional for the entire McGill community.” According to Cadieux Van Vliet, the students behind the policy want to expand the conversation about McGill’s services and policy procedures surrounding sexual assault. “It’s important to have a campus-wide discussion about
what good [sexual assault] services [and] policy procedures [look] like, so in order to get that conversation started, we drafted this policy [proposal],” Cadieux Van Vliet said. The proposal most go through consultation by the Senate’s policy committee before becoming a formal policy of the university. There is currently also an online petition asking for endorsements for the policy proposal.
campus
Principal outlines research, learning environment as university priorities Demilitarize McGill protests Fortier’s address, questions openness of university administration Paniz Khosroshahy Staff Writer Strengthening research, learning environments, and the university’s connection to society is at the forefront of McGill’s priorities for the next five years, according to a March 28 address by Principal Suzanne Fortier. In front of 180 members of the McGill community, Fortier touched on improvements that are necessary in the areas of student life and learning, research, engagement, and learning organization in addition to space. “The vision for our university is an expression of how we see our mission today at McGill, building on our strengths and identity and in the context of the 21st century,” she said. Fortier explained that her priorities developed through her discussions with people and groups from across the university since she began her term as McGill’s 17th principal last September. “Since arriving on campus, I have had the opportunity to meet with many of you and partici-
pate in many activities,” she said “This has helped me crystallize the hopes, the goals and the ambitions of this community.” Nicolas Magnien, executive co-coordinator at McGill’s Indigenous Studies Community KANATA, applauded Fortier for her engagement with the McGill community. “As far as I know, no other principal has really ever tried from the beginning of their mandate to learn about indigenous issues, and [Fortier] has,” Magnien said. “She is the only principal that I’ve heard of [who] came up with this [consultation] initiative.” On the priority of a learning organization, Fortier said she seeks to build a more effective professional environment and improve the university’s physical and virtual campuses. “Our vision is for a transformed environment, for teaching and learning and for conducting research and scholarship, an environment that is sustainable, accessible, state-of-the-art and healthy,” she said. The principal also said Mc-
Gill is exploring the possibility of acquiring the Royal Victoria Hospital in the coming years as a means to address the university’s space deficit of 65,000 square meters. “Our vision of the Royal [Victoria Hospital] is as a carrefour—a meeting place that connects Quebec and the world,” Fortier said. Fortier’s address faced criticism from Demilitarize McGill, a student-run group aimed at ending McGill’s alleged connections to military research. Members of Demilitarize McGill protested outside Fortier’s presentation, accusing the administration of lacking transparency. “[Fortier] says that [the administration] is going to be open and connected and purposeful,” demonstrator Cadence O’Neal, U1 Arts, said. “We question how open McGill really is. We question the purposefulness of the weapons that McGill is trying to develop.” The protesters accused the administration of receiving over $1.2 million in funds for military research.
Fortier spoke on McGill priorities. (Laurie-Anne Benoit / McGill Tribune) In her address, Fortier emphasized the complexity of relationships between the university and its governmental and industrial research partners. “As we know from our history, [much] of the research that has been done in the past have created improvements, advanced knowledge, and benefited society,” she said. “It is important to make sure that you stay true to your values and principles and it is important as you engage in these collaborations to test and ask yourself the question of
whether they do or not.” On the topic of future challenges, Fortier acknowledged that the university continues to face financial strain. “We cannot ignore our financial challenges, but we cannot let them define us,” she said. “We will need to evolve while preserving what makes McGill, McGill. Our openness to change, I believe, will determine our future success.”