Amnesty policy revised
On Monday, Ainsley Carry, vice provost for Student Affairs, emailed the USC community detailing new initiatives that assist and support victims of sexual assault, as well as provide amnesty when reporting said sexual assault and medical emergencies.
Some of the new initiatives included additional residential assistant training regarding sexual misconduct, as well as improved procedures for the Department of Public Safety officers.
Deputy Chief David Carlisle said that the new improvements will focus more on the victim.
“When a sexual assault is reported, we do an initial assessment,” Carlisle said. “Once we determine it is sexual assault, we turn it over to the Los Angeles Police Department, but our involvement does not stop there. Our concern is for the victim. We become an advocate for the victim and we ensure the victim is made aware and referred to the various resources available on campus.”
Carry also noted the university had hired a professional investigator to look into occurrences of sexual assault.
“In September 2013, a highly trained sexual assault investigator was hired to have primary responsibility for investigating cases, following through with survivors, and continuously improving performance of the process,” Carry wrote in the email.
In addition to changes in reporting sexual assault, the Medical Amnesty/Good Samaritan Policy detailed that students will not be sanctioned for alcohol or drug use if they are reporting sexual misconduct.
“Those who report sexual misconduct or participate as witnesses in sexual misconduct investigations, or who seek medical assistance for themselves or another, by contacting a Residential Assistant, calling a Department of Public Safety officer, or calling 911, will not be subject to disciplinary sanctions for their consumption of alcohol and/or other substances,” Carry wrote in the email.
Fellow DPS Deputy Chief John Adams, who was a key figure in the development of the Medical Amnesty/Good Samaritan policy, explained the detailed provisions were already in effect.
“There is no change from what the practice has been,” Adams said. “The practice has been put in writing. The students from USC had come forward and said that they know DPS practices medical amnesty but there is nothing in writing that tells people what it actually is.”
Adams, stressed, however, that it is not a blank slate.
“The policy does not preclude disciplinary sanctions due to any other violations of student code of conduct beyond alcohol or substance consumption,” Adams said. “We can’t grant amnesty for everything.”
Kaya Masler, political director of the USC College Democrats, began advocating for a medical amnesty policy about a year ago when she realized that the university did not have one.
“It was one of the petition points I put on a larger scale of reform, asking the university to implement this,” Masler said. “The amnesty policy was a priority on that list because, in my opinion, it is one of the most important pieces of a sexual assault policy for student health and safety.”
Masler noted that the new Medical Amnesty/Good Samaritan Policy will encourage students to speak up without fear of being reprimanded.
“One of the primary reasons students don’t report sexual assault is that they think they are going to get in trouble for using alcohol or other substances,” Masler said. “That, to me, was a central indicator that we need Medical Amnesty.”
Logan Heley, Greek senator and former assistant director of campus affairs, also took part in developing the medical amnesty Policy. Like Masler, he noted that the new initiative will give students the assurance of not being punished for substance or alcohol abuse if they are reporting a sexual assault.
“This is one of our efforts for students to not be afraid to ask for help,” Heley said. “It is about keeping students safe. We want students to ask for help if they or their friends need it.”
USC garnered widespread media attention in May of last year when 16 students and alumni filed a Title IX complaint to the Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Education regarding the university’s treatment of sexual assault survivors and errors in its reporting and adjudication process.
Senior Alexa Schwartz, one of three students whose complaint is currently under investigation by the Office for Civil Rights, said that the administration has been meeting with students since the fall semester to talk about the aforementioned issues.
“We formed committees to work on each part of what is outlined in this letter,” Schwartz said. “For example, I worked on policy and process clarification to make sure that anyone that you go to on campus — whether it is an RA or DPS or a professor, we want to make sure that anyone employed by the university understands and has the tools to direct a student who is a victim of sexual assault.”
Schwartz also said these new initiatives will have a profound effect.
“I know these changes are going to make a big impact on our campus, and I hope that we’ll continue to get emails like this, reminding people of this information,” Schwartz said.
Junior Francesca Bessey, a member of the Student Coalition Against Rape and herself a rape survivor, found it heartening to see the issue broadly addressed for the first time.
“One of the central convictions I hold as an activist around issues of sexual violence is that progress has been severely stunted by a stubborn refusal on the part of society to bring this issue into public discourse,” Bessey said in an email.
Bessey stressed, however, that the new initiatives would not solve everything.
“A letter specifically discussing the issue and the steps being taken to address it challenges that troubling norm and I am grateful for it,” Bessey said the email. “However, the fact remains that USC is understaffed (both in terms of quantity and training) to deal with this issue. Changing this will come in part from changing the norm.”