Sitting alongside University of Cincinnati administrators, Grace Cunningham and Kenna Corey cried as they spilled details of their sexual assault experiences in yet another plea for the university to make a serious policy change.
“This was the moment where we realized that administration was going to pretend to care as much as they had to,” said Corey. Cunningham and Corey are students at UC and are part of Students for Survivors, a student-led movement unaffiliated with the university dedicated to supporting sexual assault survivors at UC.
UC has been under investigation by the federal Department of Education Office for Civil Rights since August 2016 for being a “sexually hostile environment.” In comparison to other universities and standing alone, the university fails to support survivors of sexual assault.
On average, 321,500 people ages 12 or older are victims of rape and sexual assault each year in the United States, according to RAINN, an anti-sexual violence organization. Studies show that survivors are more prone to suffer from mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Survivors of rape and sexual assault are more likely to attempt or consider suicide and also more likely to engage in substance abuse. College survivors suffer even higher rates of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder which, in turn, correlates to higher college dropout rates.
University of Cincinnati abides by Title IX, a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in the university’s programs and activities. UC’s Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) provides confidential crisis intervention. UC students receive three free sessions. Through their ARISE (Awareness, Response, Intervention, Support and Empowerment) program, survivors of sexual assault get free sessions on a case by case basis for the number of sessions you are allowed. Before April of 2017, those sessions were only applicable if your assault occurred during your time at UC.
“So basically I loved my therapist and she wanted to help me,” recalled 20-year-old Siti Pulcheon, “But with the number of sessions UC gives I personally find it does more harm than good. We don’t have enough time to troubleshoot and work overtime to improve so it’s all very ‘you have this I’m sorry we can’t help more.’” Pulcheon utilized CAPS as a freshman at UC.
In August of 2015, Reclaim, a nationally accredited campus-based peer advocacy program for survivors of gender-based and sexual violence at UC, was terminated with no clear reason. This left the campus without any sexual assault advocacy from August of 2015 to October of 2016. Although CAPS provides a 24-hour consultation crisis helpline, Reclaim’s helpline was provided by students. UC now lacks that student-to-student support.
As of October of 2016, UC has two on-campus confidential advocates, Courtney Harchaoui and Susan Pelle. Harchaoui and Pelle are not employed by the university, but rather Women Helping Women, a nonprofit organization located in Downtown Cincinnati.
“If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be at this university,” said Cunningham. Harchaoui and Pelle provide direct crisis intervention services, assist with safety planning and provide necessary information and referrals. They even accompany students to court proceedings, appointments and meetings. “Sometimes it’s really the small things that are the most helpful,” said Pelle. “We’re willing to try anything, just to be that person who is taking the burden off that student so they don’t have to make another phone call or walk somewhere by themselves,” said Harchaoui. Harchaoui and Pelle are funded by a grant. They are the only two advocates available for the 40,000+ students on UC’s main campus, UC Clermont College and UC Blue Ash College. Sharing an office tucked away in the Women’s Center, Harchaoui and Pelle are expected to be advocates to all 40,000 plus students, while also working on outreach methods and sitting in on all UC sexual assault related meetings.
UC’s website includes a brief explanation of their sexual assault services, but only when you get to the Women’s Center page. Although Pelle and Harchaoui are constantly working on outreach strategies, there’s only two of them. When asked about UC’s sexual assault support, Hattie Sager, a second-year English major at UC said, “I have no idea what our sexual assault support even entails and I wish that was something I was made more aware of.”
The University of Kentucky, an hour and a half away from UC, provides their students with a Violence Intervention and Prevention Center (VIP). VIP is funded by the university and all staff are confidential advocates. The center consists of a director, 2 full-time staff focused on direct support and advocacy and two additional staff members focused on prevention. They provide information on available options, academic accommodations, and accompaniment to Title IX/criminal procedures. Through VIP, there are multiple programs including the Green Dot. The Green Dot strategy seeks to engage community members and teach proactive behaviors that establish intolerance of violence as the norm. They also have Consent Culture, a campaign aimed at educating UK students on sexual assault advocacy resources available to students. Another program is HAVEN, an online program to provide information on dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. This is a mandatory program for all students to complete. If not completed, a hold is placed on the student’s account.
Just 15 minutes away from UC’s campus, Northern Kentucky University has Norse Violence Prevention (NVP), a center on campus for student inclusiveness. Initially funded by a grant from the Office of Violence Against Women, it is now funded by the university. There is one full-time staff member who is a confidential advocate. Their services include providing information on available options, academic accommodations, and accompaniment. Each NKU orientation reserves time for consent education. They also conduct over 75 trainings each year on trauma-informed training, consent training and Green Dot training. Additionally, they compile all of their sexual assault resources into a brochure for their students. NKU’s campus is partnered with a Coordinated Community Response Team. Overseen by NVP, this is a team of individuals who commit to creating a campus culture dedicated to the prevention and response of sexual assault, domestic or dating violence and stalking crimes.
The University of Cincinnati not only lacks the appropriate resources for survivors of sexual assault, but also fails to provide students with the existing resources in an easily accessible manner. Further, they also do not take any campus-wide preventative action to gender-based violence.