Xavier U advocates program leads to new Women's Center.(Xavier University).

There's some truth to the adage, "perception is 90% of reality." Administrators at Xavier University OH were shocked to discover that students perceived nothing was being done to deter assault, harassment and rape on campus.

The conclusion came from more than 200 student responses to a confidential online survey aimed at collecting data on the prevalence of sexual assault at the Ohio school.

Before launching the survey, two faculty from the gender and diversity studies program had spoken to the provost about several assaults and got his support for a series of initiatives responding to the violence against minorities and improving the campus climate.

After viewing the survey results, the provost also agreed to fund an advocacy program in 2004. Three doctoral students in psychology were trained and work under a faculty member to advocate for victims of sexual assault, harassment, rape and stalking.

Dr. Carolyn Jenkins, associate professor of social work and a member of the committee on gender and diversity, graduate Megan Rothe and advocate Kelly Firesheets explained Xavier's advocate program at the National Association for Women in Catholic Higher Education (NAW-CHE) conference held in Washington DC in June. The advocacy program became the first step in the creation of a Women's Center at the school.

Several years ago, the ensuing uproar over the staging of the "Vagina Monologues" at the Catholic university had relegated the play to being only a classroom project, protected only by "academic freedom."

Responding to this limitation, Jenkins spoke with Christine Anderson, associate professor of history and director of gender and minority studies. They discussed women students who had been raped and wanted to report it, but didn't. The women felt intimidated by campus police or victimized by the myth that if the woman didn't initially cry rape, it was simply consensual sex. "Rape on campus is really incest," said Jenkins. "Campuses are a closed society and you know your abuser."

Jenkins reported the results of the discussions to the provost, which led to the creation of an all-school document called "Ensuring a Climate of Respect." It defined topics such as harassment and discrimination, and the steps students could take to report an incident.

After the provost approved an online survey of student about their perceptions, The Advocacy Center opened in fall 2004 and continues to grow.

Program nuts and bolts

The advocate program is housed in the Women's Center. Doctoral students in psychology who act as advocates rotate through the Center 24/7. They provide support and information to survivors of interpersonal violence or harassment and their family and friends.

The advocate can provide emotional support, help a survivor identify her options and explain processes and procedures involved with the university's disciplinary procedure or how to obtain a forensic exam. Advocates also accompany the survivor to the hospital or police, offer referrals to campus and community resources, help survivors develop a safety plan and suggest various types of follow-up support.

If there's a situation involving assault, rape, harassment or stalking at the school, those in authority must call an advocate. "Even if the police or student affairs staff took a call, they have to talk to an advocate," said Jenkins. The advocate is present at police questioning and goes with the victim to the school's disciplinary committee meeting. Having personal support at the disciplinary committee has prevented committee members from asking the victim inappropriate questions about her sex life.

Jenkins, who heads up the program, reports directly to the provost. The program is introduced to students at freshman orientation. New students are told, "Just because we have the program, it doesn't mean we have a problem but that we're proactive in creating a safe environment," she said. Social marketing gets the word out. Every campus employee receives a brochure.

Advocates on campus

Kelly Firesheets was a fourth year student in the doctoral program in psychology and an advocate. Employed as a clinical therapist, she put in 10 hours a week with the program. "We signed on to 'do the advocacy' program, but the first year it was the opportunity to create the advocacy program," she noted. Trained as a therapist, she finds a difference between doing therapy and acting as an advocate, although many of the skills are similar.

Before Firesheets and her two colleagues ever saw a student, they went through a comprehensive training course that included sections on crisis counseling, legal issues, school policies and campus and community resources.

Legal training came through the Hamilton County Rape Center. Forensic and physical exam training was conducted at Cincinnati Hospital. By putting themselves in the victim's shoes, advocates learned why the victim should go to the hospital and what happens once she's there.

Training included an emphasis on paperwork--what forms to use, where to find them and tips on how to relate to the campus police department. Building relationships with campus police, student services and the human resources department was also critical, as was sharing information among the departments.

"We didn't take the approach of 'Your department isn't doing the job,' but rather 'We want to help,'" said Firesheets. Advocates also met with the local prosecutor's office, the local police department and community victims advocacy groups. There were also the "housekeeping" issues of special IDs, parking permits and keys to all the residence halls.

Calls can come in from many campus offices including student life, a resident assistant, campus police or the hotline at the Rape Crisis Center. Others come from students visiting the Mental Health Clinic. Victims need to feel safe before sharing their tragedy with a stranger.

The job of an advocate is to let the victim know about her rights. They also discuss relationship issues with the perpetrator, as well as the potential for stalking that could result from filing charges. Also covered are the types of behaviors that should and should not be tolerated. Advocates help the victim make the decision about whether or not to report the incident.

Before the program began, there were no rapes reported. The first year alone six students came forward saying they were raped. Just like running outside with wet hair doesn't cause you to catch cold, having the program in place doesn't mean more rapes are being committed than before. Campus myths--such as "If you drink, you weren't raped," or "The violence was an accident," or "Campus police won't help me"--caused many cases to be unreported.

Tips to start

Firesheets offered schools advice to develop programs.

* Preparation will only get you so far. "There's no way to be prepared for everything," she said. "The victim feels powerless. As women in higher education, you want to make a woman powerful by giving her information, but you just can't." The advocates' most important skill is listening and just being present for the person during the process. The objective is to help the victim navigate the system.

* Build relationships to help make jobs easier.

* Expect resistance. You won't know when it will come or who it will come from. But because the incidents involve sex and power, resistance will occur.

Cause and effect

Rothe is a recent graduate of Xavier and a member of the Take Back the Night initiative. She defines herself as a "powerful, intelligent female activist" and showed it when she petitioned the provost to create a Women's Center. "There is now a Women's Center because of the advocates' program," she said. The program gave administrators data and the survey got faculty members talking about the issue.

When administrators asked why a Women's Center was necessary, all supporters had to do was point to what was falling through the cracks. The Student Center was open only from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Health Center didn't offer OB/GYN exams. Students who didn't drive wouldn't go to the hospital.

With support, the Women's Center expanded its range of services to serve a variety of clients with a multitude of needs. There's the new graduate who will be working with the homeless who needs skills to avoid being harassed. Another new graduate entering the professional world for the first time needs advice on balancing work and personal life. The Center provides tools on how to listen to those with different viewpoints, information on reproduction issues for Catholic women and ways of motivating students to succeed.

The Center also provides space for women to be proud of themselves and their gender. Rothe learned the lesson about what it means for a society to step back and look at her experience of sexism, asking herself "How can I appreciate myself as a female and other females I meet?"

The nature of sexism and oppression is a continuous assault from the culture and the media on "who you are." What does it mean to be a female today? What if I study it, appreciate the significance of who I am and the women on whose shoulders we stand? How does history address the empowerment of women? The Center teaches women to appreciate the women who have come before them as mothers and grandmothers. There it's perfectly acceptable to ask, "Who was your grandmother, what was her strength?" and "What ingredient did she add to your life?"

"We've been trained in a cloak of invisibility and have become modest," Rothe said. "We don't blow our own horn."

To inspire a group of people, you can't communicate appreciation if you don't appreciate yourself. "So the core of our work is to appreciate your femaleness," she added.

The Center stresses integrity as a core value. When people speak with integrity, they tap into their personal power. Integrity can be institutional. If you're in a position of power and there is injustice to those who clean the toilets, what do you do to address it? If you're sitting across the desk and others expect you to compromise your values, that's when you reveal whether or not you have integrity.

Through closeness, the Center offers a solution to wariness, fear and isolation. The times one has felt best was when one was close to another. We have to avoid being picked off by the enemies of success and allowing our work to be trivialized.

Center mantras include grabbing a buddy and saying, "We can do it. We have a long history of struggle. The world needs me. I need to be well rested, well nourished, well exercised and deeply committed to myself."

To combat sexism, they recommend telling yourself, "I'm a woman and I am brilliant, I make a difference and I can make a stand." We can't argue someone out of a position, but we can listen and then get out of the argument. The Center is helping women practice a full range of issues through their bodies, minds and history.

Despite the good work by Women Centers, on many campuses their services are unprotected, by neither academic freedom nor medical confidentiality. Directors of Women's Centers often are not seen as key players in the institution, leaving them vulnerable to attacks by outsiders like alumni or the church, especially on a Catholic campus.

They suggested that one way to protect a Women's Center is to put both it and the LGBT center on the academic side of the house, tied to academic freedom. Constantly make connections between student services and the school's institutional values and mission. Fly under the radar. Develop partnerships with faculty and the community.

With help, voice and constituency, a Women's Center can be a powerful partner on campus.

--MLS

Contact: jenkins@xavier.edu or 859.727.1365

Gale Document Number:A169983823