The Center for Community Action and Prevention, originally slated to open July 1, has pushed back its opening to the fall to allow additional time to find a director, associate Dean of the College Elizabeth Agosto ’01 said.
After reviewing the roughly 20 applications received, the search committee, which Agosto chairs, decided in May to continue to recruit experts in the field of sexual assault on college campuses to apply for the position, she said.
Agosto said she expects that the director will ultimately have a graduate background in health and wellness, especially assault prevention. The committee also hopes to find a candidate who can galvanize diverse campus communities against sexual assault, she said.
CCAP, which will house sexual assault prevention resources in Robinson Hall, marked one of outgoing Dean of the College Charlotte Johnson’s final initiatives. Johnson’s departure for Scripps College this July, in addition to the upcoming arrival of Provost Carolyn Dever, has introduced a challenge for CCAP, as the high turnover of upper-level administrators required briefing new faces on CCAP’s mission, Agosto said.
Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault summer co-chair Shanet Hinds ’16 and member John Damianos ’16 said that they do not expect administrative turnover to influence the Committee’s work with CCAP. A Center has been a long-term SPCSA recommendation that was the product of many discussions amongst many participants, they said, so they do not expect the departure of any one administrator to have a large effect.
Damianos added that any administrator who joins the College will enter Hanover cognizant that sexual assault is a top priority for the college so the administrator will be prepared to “put this issue on the forefront, to be brought up to speed.”
To Hinds, the move signals that administrators have given CCAP substantial thought.
Sexual assault peer advisor Ethan Klein ’16, however, criticized the delayed opening, noting that it is symptomatic of greater College misfires on sexual assault policy in the past.
“The fact that it is delayed is just another facet of continual problems with understaffing, underfunding, lack of support and lack of organization on initiatives about sexual assault from the part of the College,” he said, citing understaffing at the center for student health promotion and wellness.
Klein said that he as a SAPA felt hesitant to bring questions forward because he thought sexual abuse awareness program coordinators Amanda Childress and Rebekah Carrow were tasked with too much work.
The delay shows that CCAP was founded from “a greater urge to generate publicity than to generate meaningful change,” he said.CCAP will alleviate existing confusion by centralizing resources, Agosto said.
SPCSA member Tori Nevel ’16 said that the new fall opening will allow CCAP to be introduced to new incoming students and students returning from terms off campus, thereby reducing confusion about resources. A fall opening will make for a less confusing transition, since all students will be introduced to CCAP at once, Nevel said.
Damianos also noted that a fall opening will allow CCAP to use ideas gleaned from the national Summit on Sexual Assault, which will be held at the College July 13-17. The Summit will gather experts and community members to develop new sexual assault policies for campuses across the country.
With a fall opening, CCAP can incorporate ideas forwarded at the Summit before its opening day, rather than needing to substantially modify its mission early on, Damianos and Hinds said.
“You wouldn’t want us to have this new change in July, and then new adjustments again in August and September,” Hinds said.
Klein said the hiring of a survivor advocate, someone tasked with directly supporting sexual assault victims, will also help increase clarity. He said that he does not think the delay will add to confusion, especially since CCAP is not aimed at survivors.
Agosto said that she acknowledges the information about resources, which comprise an alphabet soup of acronyms including SAAP, SPCSA and SAPA, can confuse the casual observer.
“We recognize that there needs to be increased clarity and communication,” Agosto said, noting that advocates are working to streamline information about existing resources for survivors.
Movement Against Violence summer secretary Rebecca Schantz ’16 declined to comment for the group in an email, citing lack of knowledge about CCAP.
