The GUSA Safety and Sexual Assault Policy Team is working to create a safer campus for all Hoyas. The team focuses on the SafeRides program, campus crime, and sexual assault and domestic violence policy. The chair of the team works closely with the Georgetown University Police Department, Health Education Services, and Student Affairs. The team also participates in the Sexual Assault Working Group, Student Safety Advisory Board, and interview processes for new University employees around these issues.

Over the last few terms, the GUSA Safety and Sexual Assault Policy Team team has:

• Created annual events for Domestic Violence Awareness Month through GUSA
• Assisted with the launch and revisions of sexualassault.georgetown.edu, where members of the university community can find information on their resources and rights
• Fought for another confidential resource in Health Education Services
• Reformed the Code of Conduct to make sexual history and dress explicitly inadmissible in sexual misconduct hearings
• Pushed for close-circuit cameras in the hearing rooms for sexual assault cases
• Advocated for the hiring of two part-time Title IX investigators and a full-time Title IX Coordinator
• Supported the I Am Ready program at New Student Orientation
• Incorporated a consent module in the GUSA What’s A Hoya?
• Recommended more inclusive GUPD self-defense classes
• Reformed the SafeRides program with the SafeRides Steering Committee
• Started the GUPD Roundtable program with Chief Gruber and Deputy Chief Smith
• Received language for syllabi around mandatory Title IX reporting and reached out to faculty
• Organized first Bias Report Committee office hours for students to ask questions

While the GUSA Safety and Sexual Assault Policy Team has made a lot of progress, there is still so much to be done. If you are interested in being involved with campus safety issues, feel free to attend the Sexual Assault Working Group and Student Safety Advisory meetings. You can also send in anonymous feedback to GUPD here or contact Nina Young directly around issues with SafeRides and campus security. Finally, the best way to be involved is continue having conversations around these issues. In particular, the Sexual Assault Peer Educator program offers facilitations around sexual assault, domestic violence, consent, and bystander intervention.

Take Back the Night, a student group, also provides students with opportunities to engage with sexual assault education and advocacy.

What we’ve done so far this term:

• Worked with the administration to replace Dr. Welsh, the Vice President of Student Health Services, in a timely manner and engaged students in the hiring process

• Changed the definition of dating violence and domestic violence in the Code of Student Conduct (the previous definitions placed too much emphasis on physical force and defined domestic violence as an “intrafamily offense”)

• Worked with the Center for Student Engagement to implement a requirement that all access-to-benefits student organizations send three members of their leadership to bystander intervention training

• Supported the university in disseminating a Campus Climate Survey in the spring and bringing together other advocacy groups to collaborate on outreach for the survey

• Appointed executive leadership to the Student Safety Advisory Board

• Worked with the university to absorb the economic costs of a full semester of counseling services at CAPS for survivors of sexual assault

• Worked with the university on a pilot partnership with Uber that might replace or augment SafeRides

• Supported SafeRides by supplying drivers from the GUSA Cabinet and Senate

• Hosted a Safety Fair focusing on alcohol and consent education

• Partnered with the Georgetown University Police Department (GUPD) and Georgetown Against Gun Violence to develop “Run, Hide, Fight” trainings

What we’re prioritizing for the rest of our term:

• Continuing to raise awareness about on-campus safety and sexual assault resources

• Strengthening student relationships with GUPD

• Researching mandatory reporting practices at other universities

• Drafting a resource checklist for use by staff and faculty

• Creating a set of recommendations for President DeGioia, informed by the work of the Sexual Misconduct Task Force