Dr. Pam Benoit and Dr. Shari Clarke write into The Post about the relocation of OUSAP.
To the Editor,
We are following up on our letter from January 29, 2015 with an update about our commitment to the continuation of the Survivor Advocacy Program. Last spring, the Provost’s office was asked to identify and prioritize areas under our administration with operational space needs. We identified many programmatic needs, including the Survivor Advocacy Program, Office for Institutional Equity (which houses the office of the university Title IX Coordinator and ADA-504 Coordinator), Student Accessibility Services and the Center for Campus and Community Engagement. We are pleased to announce that these offices will find a new home in Lindley Hall this year.
After several months of research, evaluation and interviews with affected offices to identify specific needs, University Planner Shawna Bolin developed a plan for providing the space to meet those needs — including those of the Survivor Advocacy Program, where privacy and accessibility are of utmost importance.
All of these units, and the ones on our list that are not part of this plan, are incredibly important to our academic and student support missions. Because of our earlier letter, we wanted to focus for a moment on the Survivor Advocacy Program’s space to further assure students that the resource remains a vital part of our support services for victims of rape and sexual assault.
The Survivor Advocacy Program’s new space will include four professional offices, a workroom and conference room in a private suite. The space is also large enough to accommodate the SAP Outreach Program, which serves community members in Athens, Meigs and Perry counties in southeastern Ohio. The suite has a private entrance with doors that separate it from the rest of the floor. In addition, this new space will provide a central location and nearby parking for those using the SAP’s services; the Athens City Parking Garage is less than two blocks away.
Additional resources were specifically allocated to replace an exterior door to ensure a second private entrance and exit path, provide windows for natural light, and add hallway doors to create a private suite.
OHIO’s Survivor Advocacy Program provides an important and necessary service to our campus and community. This new space will allow SAP to afford a safe and secure environment for those it serves and, in turn, help achieve its mission of creating a safe campus where victims and survivors of sexual assault, stalking, and dating and domestic violence are thoroughly respected and supported.
The Survivor Advocacy Program will be joined in Lindley Hall by the Office for Institutional Equity (Offices of the university Title IX Coordinator and ADA-504 Coordinator), which will move into fully accessible space with ground level offices, and the Center for Campus and Community Engagement, which will expand into four offices plus storage and a conference room. Student Accessibility Services will add a group testing room, private testing room and space for a staff member to its office space.
We thank you for the positive and constructive feedback we received from our last letter. We are committed to investing in these offices to ensure their continued work towards making our campus safe and inclusive for all.
Dr. Pam Benoit is the Executive Vice President & Provost at Ohio University and Dr. Shari Clarke is the Vice Provost for Diversity & Inclusion.
