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Stand With Survivors Syracuse University, a student-led organization that aims to fight sexual misconduct and rape culture on campus, released a letter and manifesto on Tuesday that detailed 18 demands for Syracuse University administrators. 

“Rape culture thrives at SU. It is a culture that normalizes sexual violence, and blatantly disregards the wellbeing of survivors,” the group said in the letter. “It is a campus-wide culture, and the SU administration is guilty of perpetuating it.”

Members of the university’s Student Activism Engagement Team have previously connected with Stand With Survivors, a university spokesperson said in a statement to The Daily Orange. The team is a group of professors, staff members and other community members that are supposed to help students express their concerns with administrators and provide space to organize.

“We are also cognizant that every student experiences the reporting and adjudication process differently and that there is always room to do better,” the statement reads. “We are currently conducting a review to identify opportunities for improvement in training, policies and procedures so we can better support our students.”

These demands are broken down into three categories: housing policies, preventative action and specific reforms of the administrative process.

Megan Thompson | Design Editor

Housing Policies 

SWSSU demanded SU relocate students under investigation for sexual misconduct to off-campus housing until the end of the investigation. If the report against the student is unsubstantiated, they can return to their on-campus housing, the group said in their demand.

Currently, Title IX coordinators must use reported facts to determine whether or not to refer the incident to the Department of Public Safety’s Threat Assessment Management Team, which is in charge of determining whether a student should be immediately removed.

If the team finds it necessary to have an emergency removal, or interim suspension, the accuser would have to be determined as an immediate threat to the physical health or safety of a student, according to SU’s Student Conduct System Handbook. Students can also challenge the removal.

SWSSU demanded the office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs to mandate a new policy in their housing contracts for all Greek organizations, both recognized and unrecognized by the university.

In this policy, FASA would require students who live in a Greek house and were found guilty of a sexual misconduct offense or drugging and are removed from the organization as a result, they must vacate the premises of the Greek organization within five days. SWSSU does not specify if they need to be found guilty in a court of law or by SU’s Office of Community Standards.

The group also demanded Greek organizations to refrain from hosting social and philanthropy events during the five day period that the student can still reside in the house. If the organization violates this rule the organization should be immediately kicked off campus, SWSSU said in the manifesto. FASA does not currently have a similar policy. 

Finally, SWSSU demanded SU expand no contact orders to prohibit the student accused of sexual misconduct from sharing community spaces, classes or housing with the person who filed the report against the accused student.

Under the demand, if a student was assaulted prior to their time at the university, the student would also be able to file a no contact order on the perpetrator.

SU has a policy stating that DPS, the Office of Student Living or a Title IX coordinator may issue a temporary no contact order, which prohibits social media, third-party and in-person contact among students involved if it is determined that contact between the students poses a problem to a student’s security or safety. 

After two days of the order, the director of the Office of Community Standards or a designee decides whether the order should stay in place or be removed. Any student party involved can appeal the university’s no contact order.

TW:SA Sexual Violence Statistics
As a society and a community we must do better to protect people from acts of sexual violence.

A photo posted by standwithsurvivorssu

Preventative Action

SWSSU asked the university to collaborate with off-campus organizations — such as Callisto, VeraHouse and Planned Parenthood — to create a seminar on consent, anti-rape culture, sexual and relationship violence and resources for survivors. 

The Barnes Center at The Arch currently has off-campus resources such as Vera House and the National Women’s Law Center posted on their website, but it does not have a partnership with these services. 

SWSSU wants all students to be required to take the seminar starting their first year and every second year thereafter. Students must receive a perfect score on a test at its conclusion, and their Blackboard account and Wi-Fi should be disabled until they pass their in-person exit exam.

Potential new members of Greek organizations must take an additional seminar and exit exam. If a potential new member does not pass the exam with a perfect score, they will not be able to participate in recruitment until they pass the exam. If they do not pass the initial exam, they will not be able to retake it until the following semester. Currently, no separate seminar on this topic is required for students wishing to undergo recruitment.

Student-athletes would not be allowed to practice or play in games until completing the additional seminar with a perfect score on the test. They will have unlimited tries to receive a 100%, and they will be able to attend the seminar before the preseason begins.

Students currently have a community wellness requirement prior to the beginning of their freshman year, which includes three EVERFI modules and Speak About It, an in-person required seminar that includes skits and dialogue to teach students about consent, sexual violence, assault, healthy relationships and bystander intervention. Both are required tasks, meaning they must be completed, with the risk of additional charges to a student’s account and the inability to register for classes if not completed.

The Barnes Center’s Wellness Leadership Institute currently has a variety of workshops about sex, sexual violence and rape culture that are offered to students, but they are not required.

Megan Thompson | Design Editor

Specific Reforms of Administrative Processes 

SWSSU asked for more blue lights to be placed on campus and near off-campus housing in addition to a map, which will be available to students through an app, showing the locations of each blue light. DPS and the university have not announced plans to add more blue lights, and students can view their location can be via DPS’s website. 

Additionally, the group demanded Chancellor Kent Syverud’s Task Force on Sexual and Relationship Violence conduct another survey on campus.

The survey would include questions regarding how students feel about Title IX and DPS at SU, in addition to why survivors did not report their cases and why they may not feel safe on campus. After the conclusion of the survey, the data should be reported to all students regardless of the survey’s outcome.

SU conducts a survey every two years in compliance with New York state’s Enough is Enough legislation. Results from the most recent survey showed only 5% of students who were sexually assaulted reported their abuse. 

SWSSU called for Title IX to collaborate with off-campus organizations and offer survivors an adviser and specialist on their case while it is being processed. Currently, Title IX does not work in conjunction with off-campus organizations.

The group asked the university to make it clear that the survivor and the accused have the right to an attorney, and the group demanded that the Title IX office hire additional employees. According to its resource guide, the university makes it known to students they have a right to an attorney, but SWSSU stated in their manifesto that this is not always made clear to survivors. 

The group emphasized that all cases should be handled the same regardless of race, economic status, disability, gender, sexuality and religion of the survivor or accused. The group also asked no students be given a time constraint by Title IX or DPS as an excuse to not process their report.

SWSUU demanded all students found guilty of any charge of sexual misconduct be expelled immediately. Currently, SU has multiple sanctions for sexual violence and harassment, ranging from suspension to expulsion depending on the severity of the charge. 

Also, the group demanded anybody found impeding the investigation, protecting the accused or lying in a testimony be removed from SU immediately. Employees of the university should be fired if found guilty, and students should be removed from all campus organizations.

The group demanded that any student found guilty of sexual misconduct prior to their time at SU should not be allowed to join any organizations or athletics. SU has not published its clear policy on this issue.

The organization demanded any DPS personnel who fail to file instances or reports of sexual misconduct or drugging with the Title IX office be removed immediately. DPS has a location on its website where students may submit complaints, however, it does not have a clear policy published on how it handles received complaints.

SWSSU demanded that SU enforce their current amnesty policy, which says that any reporting bystander or survivor acting in good faith will not be referred to the Code of Student Conduct for alcohol or drug violations during or near the time of the incident reported. 

The organization demanded Barnes Center immediately begin to hold confidential survivor support groups three times per week, improve their counseling team and extend the number of specialists in the sexual violence department. The Barnes Center currently has a sexual violence survivors group in their group therapy options, but it is unclear from the website how often this group meets.

The group also demanded The Barnes Center and SU Ambulance provide comprehensive date-rape drug tests and rape kits to be used in criminal prosecution, which they do not currently provide. If the university will not provide these, the manifesto states, SU Ambulance should transport students to off-campus resources that have these services. 

The group demanded SU assume liability for all instances of sexual misconduct that occur in Greek organizations currently unrecognized by the university and called for the University Student Conduct System to extend its jurisdiction to assume liability for students in these organizations.

SWSSU demanded SU to forcibly shut down Greek organizations unrecognized by the university if they have one or more instances of sexual misconduct or drugging. Currently, SU does not monitor unrecognized Greek organizations even though the students involved study at SU.

SWSSU demanded Syverud to publicly explain how SU administration “tried to circumvent all liabilities for sexual misconduct and drugging incidents on this campus” and formally apologize for his “victim-blaming” statements and “lack of care.”

Finally, the group demanded SU reopen The Advocacy Center on campus and include resources from off-campus resources such as Vera House, Planned Parenthood and Callisto. The group said the Sexual and Relationship Violence Response Team, who took over the responsibility of the center, has “failed at doing their job.” After the closing of the center, an 18-day sit-in in 2014 led by THE General Body took place in Crouse-Hinds Hall to protest Chancellor Kent Syverud’s decision. 

Syverud has said in the past that SU currently has no plans to reopen the center as it believes the response team to be sufficient.

In the conclusion of their manifesto, SWSSU called on the university to implement these changes immediately.

“We will no longer go unheard. We will no longer be silenced. We are angry, and we demand change,” the group wrote. “It is time to destigmatize what has become normalized in order for us to recognize this culture as uncivilized.”

Published on October 28, 2021 at 1:07 am

Contact Karoline: kaleonar@syr.edu