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Volume 49, Issue 53 | monday, november 16, 2015 | ndsmcobserver.com
ND, SMC detail reporting processes Officials explain ND assault report process
Saint Mary’s highlights options for reporting
By KATIE GALIOTO
By ALEX WINEGAR
News Writer
Associate Saint Mary’s Editor
Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of a five-part series on sexual assault at Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s. Today’s stories focus on the process for students reporting sexual assaults.
Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of a five-part series on sexual assault at Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s. Today’s stories focus on the process for students reporting sexual assaults.
Over the past year, the University’s administration, Notre Dame Security Police (NDSP) and the Special Victims Unit (SVU) of St. Joseph County have implemented policies to revise and raise awareness about the process of reporting, investigating and prosecuting sexual assaults. Heather Ryan, Deputy Title IX Coordinator, said Notre Dame students reporting a sexual assault have the option to pursue a complaint through the University Conduct Process or law enforcement. A victim can choose to pursue both options, concurrently or one after the other. “The University takes every single one of these reports extremely seriously, and we must and do investigate every single one that comes to our attention, where we have enough information to
Saint Mar y’s students who are sur v ivors of sexual v iolence have several different avenues through which they can report a sexual assault. Students can either report a sexual assault to confidential or non-confidential resources and indiv iduals, director of the Belles Against Violence Office (BAVO) Connie Adams said. “We have confidential people on campus at Saint Mar y’s and that’s myself in BAVO, Health and Counseling Ser v ices professional staff so counselors, nurses, nurse practitioner, psychiatrist all of those indiv iduals and then the pastoral ministers that are in Campus Ministr y,” she said. “If a student chooses to speak w ith a confidential person, he or she does not have to make a report unless
see ND PROCESS PAGE 5
SUSAN ZHU | The Observer
Event promotes solidarity By EMMA BORNE News Writer
Students wearing all black gathered at the Clarke Memorial Fountain, known colloquially as Stonehenge, on Sunday evening to show support for minority students on college campuses across the country who have recently faced injustices. Senior Rachel Wallace gathered the students together and began the evening with a moment of silence for those
EMMA BORNE | The Observer
see SOLIDARITY PAGE 5
Notre Dame students stand in solidarity with students of color around the country Sunday evening at the Clarke Memorial Fountain.
NEWS PAGE 3
Students avoid harm in Paris attack By HALEIGH EHMSEN Saint Mary’s Editor
VIEWPOINT PAGE 8
SCENE PAGE 9
see SMC PROCESS PAGE 6
Saint Mar y’s sophomore Theresa McSorley said she was so excited to arrive in Paris around noon Friday for a weekend trip w ith a group of students study ing abroad in Rome. “We spent the day walking the streets of Paris, eating macaroons and sight-seeing,” McSorley said. “We were able to see the Eiffel
INTERHALL PAGE 20
Tower, the Notre Dame Cathedral, Arc de Triumph, the Love Lock Bridge, the Louv re Museum and so much more. “After a beautiful day in Paris, while sitting in the Notre Dame Cathedral, I began to cr y. I had just lit a candle for my family, friends and a friends’ father whose health has not been well. I took a look around the see PARIS PAGE 4
MEN’S SOCCER PAGE 20