“I ’m really proud of what got done over the summer,” Dean of Students JoNes VanHecke said.
Over the last three months while students were away, administration has been hard at work implementing changes recommended by last year’s sexual misconduct task force.
Changes include the use of pseudonyms during adjudication procedures, defaulting students information on Gribly to private, and a new standard online form for reporting
incidents of sexual misconduct.
President Bergman considers the decision to hire a new faculty member to focus on prevention to be the most significant change that will be coming to campus soon.
Discusions about whom should be part of the search committee to hire the new faculty member are already underway.
The Gustavus community will be updated on all changes made on campus, both those concerning sexual misconduct and those not, in a series of emails from VanHecke sent later this week.
“I really feel like they are doing everything they can do to prioritize student safety and this conversation” – Jessica Green
Gustavus was fortunate to focus on change the students desires this summer, rather then state mandated ones. Minnesota implemented new laws over the summer outlining requirements for colleges from reporting data to the Office of Higher Education to communicating with local police forces.
“Most of the things enacted were already there” said VanHecke.
VanHecke suspects that a big focus moving forward in the sexual misconduct discussion will be implimenting the creation of a single space online, where all information concerning sexual misconduct is available to meet all student needs.
Jessica Green, Co-President of the Womyn’s Awareness Center, is overall pleased with the work that the Gustavus administration has done so far to address concerns surrounding sexual misconduct on campus.
“I really feel like they are doing everything they can do to prioritize student safety and this conversation” Green said.
Green would like to see focus on prevention though culture change, and dispelling rape myth.
Bergman plans for the remaining members of last year’s sexual misconduct task force to meet this September to create a new focus for the college, to continue improving student resources, and encouraging an open dialog within the committee.