OUSAP gains support around campus for university absorption.
Funding for the Ohio University Survivor Advocacy Program, which provides confidentiality to sexual assault survivors, is not guaranteed beyond October 2015.
OUSAP provides resources including a 24/7 confidential reporting hotline. The phone number has received more than 1,000 calls since the program officially launched in July 2010.
The program is overseen by the Women’s Center, mainly its director, Susanne Dietzel, and volunteer advocates as well as Bill Arnold, OUSAP’s graduate assistant for bystander intervention and prevention education.
OUSAP’s work on campus has been pushed into the spotlight after the Obama administration created a task force to address sexual assault on college campuses. The task force highlights a need for confidential reporting resources on campuses.
OUSAP’s grant, awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, is up in October 2015, Arnold said in a previous Post article. The office has given OUSAP a total of $570,000.
He said he is unsure how feasible it would be to receive more grant money, given they’ve renewed the funds twice before.
F--kRapeCulture asked OU administrators to fund and absorb the OUSAP at its most recently rally on August 29.
But the center, Dietzel says, is still researching all of their funding options, including other grants that might be applicable, and have not formally asked administrators to adopt the program.
The center is also searching for someone to fill its program coordinator position, for which applicants are coming to campus for the second round of interviews.
“Right now, I need to focus on getting a person in (the program coordinator position),” Dietzel said. “Once a person is in there, then we can start talking about sustainability.”
Student Senate plans to vote on a resolution supporting the notion of the university absorbing the OUSAP. The resolution is sponsored by Madison Koenig, women’s affairs commissioner, and Bekki Wyss, senator-at-large.
Dietzel said she has not been approached by Student Senate.
“I think it’s a great idea that people are interested in recognizing that the office performs valuable services to our campus,” Dietzel said.
Patty Stokes, assistant professor of women and gender studies, said she believes the confidential reporting that OUSAP provides is crucial to survivor support, considering faculty and staff are required to report if a student comes to him or her with a case of sexual assault.
“I hope to God that the administration will recognize its importance and fund it fully and make sure that it doesn’t fall by the wayside as perhaps more legalistic approaches taken trying to identify every perpetrator as opposed to supporting every survivor,” Stokes said. “For me, the importance will always fall on the latter, although both are important, obviously.”
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