Inside the SFU Women’s Centre at the Burnaby campus, there’s a small room filled with boxes, an old couch and tiny desk.
It’s really not much more than a storage closet.
But it’s the space where students who are the victims of a sexual assault or sexual violence come to tell their stories.
SFU is one of only a few universities without a dedicated sexual assault support centre on campus, and there is a growing push among students to have such a centre built.
“Essentially we want a centralized place in order to accommodate as many students as possible without people feeling there are barriers to them accessing these spaces,” said Laura Scheck, a fifth-year student in the gender, sexuality and women’s studies program who has been leading the charge.
The issue of sexual violence on university campuses was recently thrust into the spotlight after a number of female students at UBC came forward to say the university had failed to act on complaints about alleged sexual assaults involving a student.
At least one of the students intends to take the university to B.C.’s human rights tribunal.
Both UBC and the University of Victoria have dedicated sexual assault support centres, and Scheck questions the safety of SFU students without one.
She believes the campus is generally a safe place in that it doesn’t have the population or culture like UBC, but in her early years at the university, she lived on campus in residence and knew people dealing with sexual assaults on campus who didn’t feel safe because there wasn’t a space for them to access support.
“I don’t feel like students get the sense that the university is really adamant about supporting them in the event of a sexual assault,” she said, adding having a dedicated centre would send a message of support to students.
“Having a space would make people feel quite a lot safer.”
The university is considering building a new student union building, and Scheck is hoping the support centre could be a part of the facility.
Scheck and other interested students intend to make a pitch to university administration in the new year and have set up an online pledge to get support.
“I have a good feeling about it, especially with everything that’s happening at UBC right now; I think SFU wants to be on the right side of this issue,” she said.
The Simon Fraser Student Society is also supporting the initiative for a centre and is considering applying for a $20,000 grant to hire a designated sexual assault support worker.
“From a student perspective, we’re clearly acknowledging that sexual assaults and sexual violence continue to be a pervasive issue,” said Kathleen Yang, a board member on the student society.
She said what’s missing at SFU is the entire picture of the number of students sexually assaulted.
Yang questions the number of reported assaults in SFU’s statistics and suggested the issue be addressed with a dedicated support centre.
She pointed out universities like UVic and UBC have a better idea of what’s happening on campus.
There were just four sexual assaults reported at the Burnaby campus, according to the university’s statistics from 2014.
Leah Horlick is the Women’s centre’s coordinator and is on the front lines of an issue that is not particularly new to any university campus.
“Every university has this problem (of sexual assaults), and if they say they don’t then they’re lying,” she told the NOW. “It is happening, especially if you’re not hearing about it; it’s always happening more than there are reported incidences.”
At SFU, Horlick said she hasn’t seen the same type of resistance or denial from administration, suggesting it’s both to avoid a public relations disaster but also out of care for students.
But she does point out there are some deficiencies at the university, mostly in the reporting of sexual assaults on campus and the services provided to survivors.
Horlick explained the women’s centre does work closely with campus security when a student comes forward to report a sexual assault, noting the reporting is done in the centre.
But part of the issue is the mandate of the centre.
Located in the Rotunda, the centre offers a variety of programs including an all-genders resource library and a 24/7 lounge for women.
While the centre does offer sexual assault support, Horlick said it doesn’t have the capacity to handle all the cases. In some situations, she’s forced to refer students to the university’s health and counselling services, which has a wait-list, or off campus for services.
She argued while there are a number of service providers on campus, including campus security, the women’s centre and Out on Campus, which serves LGBTQ students, the work around sexual assault support is typically done off the side of a desk.
In many cases, she said students may not know which organization to turn to in order to get support.
Meanwhile, officials at SFU say they take the issue seriously, pointing out the university is in the process of developing a stand-alone policy dedicated to the issue, which would support the existing policies in place.
“We are absolutely a university that is committed to health promotion and the well-being of our students,” said Tim Rahilly, associate vice-president, students. “This is very serious business and has a huge impact on the lives of people when this happens, so we take it very seriously.”
He explained the university has had a number of programs and services in place in terms of policy, but added the priority is support for the victim.
Rahilly also noted the university will continue to meet with students to figure out what direction they want to take on the issue of the new support centre.
Back at the women’s centre, Horlick would also welcome a new support centre, arguing it would have more capacity to deal with sexual assaults.
However, she’s quick to suggest a support centre wouldn’t mean the end to sexual assaults on campus, or necessarily avoid the situation at UBC.
“I do think the reality is this could happen anywhere at any university,” Horlick said.
Campus has fewer reported sexual assaults
Recent revelations at UBC that the university failed to act on complaints of sexual assaults made by female students has brought attention to the issue on campuses around the province, including at Simon Fraser University.
Tim Rahilly, associate vice-president for students, said the university likes to encourage victims in a respectful manner to report sexual assault incidents, noting campus security acts as first responders in such cases.
“It’s sitting down with the victim, finding out what their wishes are, what their resources are, connecting them with resources on campus and off campus,” he said. “It’s also about accommodating whatever we need to do on an interim basis for them around academics so that we can make sure that we do everything we can so they’re able to proceed with their academic program.”
Under the current policy, violence or threatening behaviour is prohibited and any active or imminent acts of violence, threats of violence or of self-harm should be immediately reported to campus security.
According to the policy, campus security personnel will respond as necessary, primarily to protect personal safety, while threat assessment teams will support the university’s response to threatening behaviour.
While Rahilly said SFU is fortunate the number of sexual assaults reported is low compared to other universities, he acknowledged that there are a number of unreported incidents.
University statistics show there were just four sexual assaults reported at the Burnaby campus in 2014.
It’s a number doubted by students and workers on the campus.
Leah Horlick, coordinator for SFU’s Women’s Centre, is sure there are more incidents of sexual assaults taking place at the university than being reported.
“We get a lot of disclosures that are women that I would say are emerging in their process, figuring out that something was non-consensual, that they’ve been sexually assaulted and those things are very difficult to report until you’ve figured out what’s happened to you,” she said.
In an effort to address the issue, the university and student society are working on prevention, including rolling out a campaign focusing on what it means to obtain consent.
Rahilly also noted the prevention work is focused on the most vulnerable people on campus, including in the residences and with new students and international students.
“I think a lot of the work we’ve been doing around just having conversations around the topic, because we want to make sure that potential victims understand that stigmatization should not be preventing them from coming forward and getting the help they need and for allowing us to follow up on any incident,” he said.
