Late Tuesday afternoon, members of the campus community came together for a productive discussion on what it would take for us to go beyond compliance—changing our campus culture to eliminate sexual harassment and sexual violence. We were heartened to hear from faculty, staff, undergraduates, and graduate students alike, that all are willing to work collectively to change the culture.
We could feel many strong emotions in the room. We are proud of our community and the individuals who spoke up—many who had experienced sexual harassment. They had the willingness and courage to come forward and in turn gave courage to others.
So what’s next?
We will keep the anonymous event form open until 5 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, May 13, for additional reflections, comments, and suggestions. Once we have collected feedback, the administration and the Academic Senate will convene a joint workgroup to include faculty, staff, and students so that we can begin looking into ways to address the changes necessary to move us beyond compliance.
If you would like to follow-up with the Title IX office about a specific incident or case, please contact Title IX officer Tracey Tsugawa at ttsugawa@ucsc.edu. If you would like to speak to a CARE advocate about options available to you, the CARE team can be reached at care@ucsc.edu or 831-502-2273.
Additionally, if you feel that you are ever in danger, or would like to report an incident to the police, the UC Santa Cruz police department is a resource to the campus community, and can be contacted at 911 for emergencies or 831-459-2231 for non-emergencies.
More information on sexual violence response and prevention, including systemwide policy, education and training, and off-campus resources, is available at http://safe.ucsc.edu/.
We know that a change in campus climate and culture will not happen overnight. It will take many years, perhaps even a generation, to make meaningful change. But we must start now.
