Second Center Bolsters University’s Response to Sexual Assault

Columbia has expanded its Sexual Violence Response Center, opening a location in Lerner Hall in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 15 attended by President Lee C. Bollinger, deans, administrators and student peer advocates.

This is the second such center at the University. The first, located in Barnard’s Hewitt Hall, opened in 1991. The new center is the most recent development among a number of measures the University has undertaken to combat gender-based misconduct on campus. The centers will focus on prevention, advocacy and outreach in the University community and will be staffed by survivor advocates, case managers, peer advocates, as well as counselors and trained investigators.

“This is a centerpiece in a broad, multidimensional and University-wide effort to prevent and respond to sexual violence and intimate-partner sexual violence,” said La’Shawn Rivera, director of the Sexual Violence Response & Rape Crisis/Anti-Violence Support Center. “We’re looking to try to change and have an impact on the culture.”

The changes include the appointment last summer of law professor Suzanne Goldberg as Bollinger’s special adviser for sexual assault prevention and response, and an updated policy that defines and addresses gender-based misconduct among students.

“We have extraordinary people at Columbia who are deeply dedicated to student health, safety and well-being” said Bollinger. “At a moment when we’re seeing attention on sexual assault across the nation’s campuses, we are committed to dedicating the financial and personnel resources to being a leader in this effort.”

With the new facility at Lerner, the University has doubled the number of professional staffers dealing with gender-based misconduct and ensured that they are available around the clock to students who need assistance. Columbia has hired staff whose sole responsibility is to walk students through the disciplinary process and help those who may need to be reassigned to a new dormitory or class section.

And it has reinforced due process protections by providing counsel to students who seek such support.

“The goal is to protect our students and also to educate them and enable them to engage in relationships with partners and friends in a way that is more fully reflective of the values we hold in this institution, which is fundamentally to respect each others’ humanity as we are here to learn and contribute all we can,” said Goldberg.

All incoming undergraduates received required consent and bystander training in the fall. In addition, a new initiative called Step Up is being offered to members of the Columbia community. It is designed to make students aware of the dangers of sexual assault, to spot and disrupt problematic behavior, and to help students who may be at risk.

“We ask students to step up within their academic fields. We ask students to step up as leaders all the time,” said Ajit Singh, a third-year engineering student who is a trainer with the Step Up program. “This is another aspect of that, where we ask students to step up within social spheres to take care of their fellow students and other members of their community.”

Samuel L. Seward Jr., associate vice president and medical director for health services at the University, said at the sexual violence center opening that compassion and empathy are an act of imagination, and that the new center is a reflection of this. “It’s a celebration of the creativity and the hard work of the hundreds of student volunteers who have supported this office for these two decades,” said Seward “We’re so grateful for their efforts and we thank them.”

One of them is Laura Shabro (CC’15), who is one of 14 peer advocates and has worked with the center since she enrolled at Columbia three years ago. “At times, it was disheartening to see how few students were aware of our services,” she said. “Thanks to dedicated staff at the Sexual Violence Response Center and a vehement student body, we have come a long way. I’d be hard-pressed to say there isn’t a student who isn’t aware of our services.”