Nationally, one in four women and one in six men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.

Those are numbers Wichita State University takes seriously, according to Wade Robinson, vice president for Student Life and University Relations.

“We are incredibly serious about these types of events and we will act promptly,” Robinson said. “We will act with confidentially and with full support here on campus.”

Robinson said this is partially because of new federal legislation that takes affect starting this summer and fall semester, but faculty and staff already received some training last month. The legislation strengthens how universities respond to reports of sexual assault that occur on campus or involve a student off campus.

The laws require more in-depth training for students, staff and faculty about what to do in a situation that involves different categories of violence, as either a victim or a bystander.

This includes software-based training that will be online this fall and in-person training during orientation this summer for incoming undergraduates and new graduate students. Other offices will distribute in-person training for faculty and staff. The Counseling and Testing Center will distribute more posters around campus to also better inform students about their options for help and recovery from a sexual assault.

“My hope is that we’ll prevent some assaults,” Counseling and Testing Center director Maureen Dasey-Morales said of the legislation. “The big push is not just about being educated, but also about being a bystander.”

A “mandatory reporter”

Attention to the subject of sexual assault has recently seen a push following a case at Penn State University. PSU staff allegedly disregarded reports of sexual assault within the athletic department.

The new regulation, Robinson said, now makes it illegal to not report a case. A “mandatory reporter,” as it’s called, requires faculty and staff to report to university officials and follow up with the student who made the report.

“It used to be,” Robinson said, “if somebody brought something forward, there was discretion and judgment: ‘Do you really want to do this? I’ll wait until you tell me you want to take this forward.’ Those things have changed.”

Instances of universities across the country mishandling sexual assault cases have come about in recent years. In 2007 for example, the University of Iowa failed to inform and give options to the victim of sexual assault by two football players, according to an investigative report from the Stolar Partnership, LLC in 2008, a year after the incident.

But Robinson — who would be one of the first responders to an assault involving WSU students — said he is confident WSU would handle a case fairly. In fact, with new regulations, universities are also now required to report how it investigated the incident.

“Clearly,” he said, “I think we are in a very good position with our support systems and our reporting that goes with it…I think we do a very good job in providing support and advocacy in an environment of immediacy.”

Francisco González, the university’s Title IX coordinator and director of Equal Employment Opportunity, said WSU is writing new policies to follow federal regulation. The law on sexual assault and rape doesn’t change, he said, but rather how university offices respond to it after an allegation is made, will change.

“The idea is to make sure our policies truly do what they’re supposed to do,” González said, “which is to protect students and community members so that they can freely participate in our services without fear and without any impediments…. It’s on the implementation part that we’re working on.”

Having options

A student can approach any campus official or office to report a case, or wherever a student “feels safest,” Robinson said. This may be a professor or other faculty or staff member.

If an assault occurs in the dormitories, Dasey-Morales of the Counseling and Testing Center is notified immediately, no matter what hour of the day.

Following the incident, having options is important, Dasey-Morales said.

“We’re not going to push them on any of those options,” she said, “…because when somebody’s been sexually assaulted, having choices, having options, being able to be the person in control, is super important. Because they just had that taken away from them.”

Once a university faculty or staff complies with the “mandatory reporter” law, the university must follow up with the student and further investigate the matter. If the alleged assaulter is a university faculty or staff member, González and the Human Resources office gets involved. If the alleged is a student, Robinson and the student conduct office gets involved.

At that point, the victim decides which course of action to pursue. University police officials only get involved if the student requests their services, university police captain Corey Herl said.

“I would love to be able to provide services and help out anybody we could, but it is their right to not have to,” Herl said. “I would encourage people to because the only way we can help is if we’re made aware.”

The way the university approaches each situation is unique, depending on the nature of the incident. There is no “cookie cutter” approach to cases, González said.

“Every case is different,” he said. “I know that people handle stressful situations like that in different ways. And we want to be sensitive to that.”

If a student requests the assistance, the Counseling and Testing Center has a variety of recovery processes that can also include organizations in the Wichita community, such as the Wichita Area Sexual Assault Center. The counseling office is adding staff members in response to the increase in enrollment, Dasey-Morales said.

What happens next

University policy states that after the victim and the alleged perpetrator have been interviewed, sanctions will be devised depending on the seriousness of the incident. “In extreme cases,” it says, “a recommendation for dismissal” will be necessary. Steps to prevent further assaults and any retaliation will also be taken. New policies will be more specific depending on whether the alleged is a student or faculty or staff member, González said. For example, the new policy will specify “expulsion” for students and “dismissal” for university employees.

Herl said steps can be taken to separate students if they share a class or if they live near each other in the dorms. Both parties also have the right to request an appeal. A final draft of the new university policy should be completed within the next month and will be posted online for public viewing.

If the victim chooses to pursue criminal charges against the alleged perpetrator, Herl said university police reports are turned over to the Sedgwick Country District Attorney for further possible charges.

But reporting a case of sexual assault isn’t easy, Dasey-Morales said.

“I feel very strongly that a student has the right to report when they’re ready to,” she said. “That has to be up to them. From a recovery, counseling point of view, they absolutely have that right.”

Robinson emphasizes that without reporting an incident, more incidents may occur in the future.

“You have to believe in us,” he said. “You have to trust us… The only the way to stop this is to address it. And it’s not easy, but that’s the battle we all fight.”