Sexual assault at UBC has been a subject of long-standing concern on the part of many in the University community, and in recent months has become a subject of widespread attention across and beyond UBC’s campuses.
In particular, students, staff and faculty members have raised serious concerns about whether current education and safety measures are adequate to prevent sexual assault, and whether UBC has put in place appropriate mechanisms to ensure institutional accountability in relation to sexual assault.
To draw on the expertise of UBC community members whose research and teaching focuses on sexual violence, the equality of women, intersectional understandings of discrimination, and best practices in adult education, the President has appointed the University Sexual Assault Panel to lay the groundwork for a UBC-wide sexual assault action plan.
The panel members are volunteers independent of administrative units and acting at arm’s length, whose goal is to be transparent and not to simply generate another report. Their aim is to outline action items in relation to education, direct services and policy initiatives, recommendations that will be followed up and evaluated.
Two members of the panel, Janine Benedet (Professor, Law) and Sarah Hunt (Assistant Professor, First Nations & Indigenous Studies and Geography) will be visiting UBC Okanagan on April 28 and 29. They would like to meet with interested faculty and staff for small group consultations that will use a case study method to reflect on best practices for prevention, response and accountability.
Your contributions will only be shared with those present and with the panel members, and your participation is confidential.
Consultations will take place on April 28 from 12 to 2 p.m. and on April 29 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
If you would like to attend, please email your name and preferred time to usap@allard.ubc.ca and you will be notified of the location of the meeting. You can also send to tat email address any written submissions to the panel.
