The Dean of Students Office invited UW-Madison students to give feedback on proposed changes to the UW System’s policy on sexual assault and other misconduct Thursday.
UWS Chapter 17, the nonacademic student code of conduct, which mandates the university’s reaction to accusations of sexual assault on all 26 UW System schools, is currently undergoing amendments through the UW System.
Students shared their opinions on proposed changes to the policies, including adding dating violence, domestic violence and sexual harassment to the types of conduct covered by the policy, altering the case revision process and the restoration process for students who are suspended or expelled for committing sexual assault, among other things.
Allie Ebben, a sophomore who sits on the Advisory Board for the Dean of Students Office, worked closely with administrators to bring this event to fruition as part of an effort to seek student input in the amendment process and bring awareness to the current status of sexual assault procedures on campus.
“It’s important to get students’ input because [administrators] can do so much, but this campus is our community, it’s not their community, these policies aren’t for them, they’re for people like us,” Ebben said. “This is a nonacademic misconduct policy for the students, so it should be written by the students.”
Students who attended the forum were able to share their voices in breakout sessions focused on designated aspects of the proposed changes.
Junior Bhupinder Manhani said he attended the forum because he feels it’s important to bring student perspectives to student issues.
“If this was a problem with guys, it would be all over the news and action would be taken, and I feel like we don’t have the necessary or correct process, especially if it’s out of date, for people to be reporting it,” Manhani said about the importance of conversations regarding sexual assault. “That’s a serious issue and it needs to be dealt with.”
Student responses were recorded by group facilitators, submitted by participants and are still being collected through an online survey until Monday.
“The goal is to collect and theme everything according to the section of UWS 17 that we were talking about and then advance that to UW System for the consideration in the review of UWS 17,” Dean of Students and Vice Provost for Student Life Lori Berquam said.
