Tuesday night, members of the Athens community along with students, faculty and staff at Ohio University gathered to discuss sexual misconduct.
Ohio University students, faculty and staff, as well as Athens residents, came together Tuesday to discuss sexual misconduct at the university's first Campus Conversation of the year.
The conversation in the Walter Hall Rotunda was a follow-up to last week’s screening at the Athena Cinema of The Hunting Ground, a documentary focusing on sexual assault on campuses and universities’ responses to reports of misconduct.
Attendees had the opportunity to move freely among tables to discuss broad topics related to campus sexual misconduct, including gender expectations and university responses to sexual assault reporting.
At the event, Interim Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones announced the university will be performing a climate survey as the next step in “beefing up” support for students on campus because the administration does not fully understand the scope of their need.
“Once we do that climate survey … then we can decide we need more counselors, we need more this or we need more that. (The survey) will help inform our direction moving forward," Hall-Jones said.
The survey will “hopefully” be implemented in spring 2016 and will cost the university nothing, she said.
OU's Administrator-Researcher Campus Climate Collaborative Survey, or ARC3, was developed in response to the White House's “It’s On Us” campaign. The campaign aims to change the culture around campus sexual assault.
Faculty and staff, as well as OU's satellite campuses, will be participating in the climate surveys, Hall-Jones said.
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The data will be published for the community to learn and grow from, she said.
“(The survey) is research-based and created by a team of faculty, researchers on this topic and practitioners,” Hall-Jones said. “We did our homework last year as part of our Presidential Advisory Council on Sexual Misconduct.”
Landen Lama, a sophomore studying political science and a member of OU Student Senate, attended the Campus Conversation.
As the head parliamentarian and co-director of university relations for senate, Lama was responsible for appointing students to the Presidential Advisory Council on Sexual Misconduct last year.
Lama said it was an honor to help the university in this way, adding that sexual assault is in the back of many people's minds on campus.
“I want to bring people to understanding the wrongs of participating in sexual misconduct,” Lama said.
Lama said senate is looking to create valuable resolutions to the problem of sexual assault on OU’s Athens campus.
Some of the topics at the Campus Conversation included: gender expectations with separate tables for female- and male-identifying persons; opinions on The Hunting Ground; and university responses to sexual assault reporting.
Stevie Putnam, a sophomore studying sociology and pre-law, said she loved the conversation.
“I was surprised so many people showed up," Putnam said. "But I think it should be mandatory.”
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