Nova Sexual Misconducts
NOVA works to insure safety in campuses, to do so different Departments are working to prevent, investigate, bring justice and help victims of sexual misconducts. According to the Nova campus police website, if a complaint needs to be made these are the department to turn to; Deans of Students, Director of Human Resources, College Police, Sexual Assault Services, Title IX Coordinator – Mr. Therman Coles and NovaCare. These departments work together and individually to insure security on campus. Nova is structured in a way that students or faculty have a place to turn to if any complains on sexual misconducts takes place. Novacare office for instance coordinates with the HR department and works on prevention and threat assessment. Nova campuses
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police keep the data on every report. These data and information are available on their website for all students and faculties. Per the statistical data on the year 2014 there were 4 sexual harassment reports, these harassments are, 1 hate crime or incident, 1 dating violence and 2 stalking. It is a known fact that sexual harassments do occur on campuses premises, a 2006 study by The American Association of University Women indicates 62% of female college students report having been sexually harassed at their university. That means more than half of the female students are being sexually harassed but according to the NOVA campus police there has only been 4 reports made in one year. Having a low number of harassment reports is not necessarily a sign that all is well rather but it is arguable that students do not feel comfortable coming forward to report such crimes and their knowledge of reporting sexual harassment before it turns to sexual assault is very low. If nova accepts these reports as factual it is being oblivious to what is happening to the students. It could be concluded that whatever is being done currently by the campus to encourage students to report incidents is not enough. There is a void and that needs to be filled by educating students and staff.
According to a research done by American Association of University women (AAUW), nearly two-third of college students experience some sort of sexual harassment.
Yet less than 10% of their students tell a college employee and even a smaller number officially report it. It is no different in NOVA, the number of reports on sexual harassment is very low and consequently disturbing. There could be multiple reasons why students are not reporting sexual harassment incidents. If a change is wanted understanding these reasons should be the first step. Most common reasons why victims fall to report according to AAUM are, victims often believe that no one will do anything about the problem. When a person is sexually harassed, it is common to feel their problem is not that “big of a deal” or important to report and no one will take it seriously. Second, victims are afraid of being blamed, blaming the victim has been done so commonly done by perpetrators that victims withhold them-self form reporting. Sexual assault victims often feel that there are many reasons to why they should not report but the biggest reason being it is not “a bid deal” playes the biggest role. Educational institutes need to educate their students and faculties to speak out. Moreover, sexual harassment has a gray and blurry line for both the victims and the departments that are dealing with sexual misconducts. The fact that it is nearly impossible to bring a proof of sexual harassment unlike sexual assault make …show more content…
the issue even more complicated. Other than to think of it as unwanted sexual behavior according to the survey done by Catherine Hill and Elena Silva a senior research associate at the AAUW Educational Foundation most students do not seem to have a shared standard for defining sexual harassment. Despite their private concern, college students are reluctant to talk about sexual harassment openly and inclined to think of it as a joke or disregard the issue. However, if schools create a clear line on what sexual harassment is and educate their students and staff it would be easy to manage and be on the same page. The consequence that sexual harassment brings to a school and individuals is serious. Sexual harassment is damaging emotionally and jeopardize the academic well-being of students. It provokes and aggravate conflict midst students, and contribute to a hostile learning atmosphere.
Hollaback an organization working to end harassment collected a data from 282 undergraduate and part-time college students and 44 college administrators to find out how harassment exists in spaces of higher education and they came up with these findings:
67% of students experienced harassment on campus
61% witnessed another student being harassed on college campus
46% of students said harassment caused disappointment with college experience
20% said harassment caused inability to concentrate in class
23% said harassment prevented attendance in class / social activities. Knowing sexual harassment occur is not enough, knowing how to deal with it and prevent it should be what NOVA strives for. NOVA has been working in educating its students and employees on sexual violence. Last semester NOVA women’s center organized to show the film the “hunting Ground” which lead to a diction about the reality of sexual assault on campuses. And this event is continual and there will be another event in May. Even though such events are something to be appreciated the fact remains more needs to be done. On an article published by U.S News, titled; How colleges are battling sexual violence, Sarah DeGue, a behavioral scientist says - Traditional programs aimed at prevention "are brief – one hour or less – and focused on improving knowledge about the problem," and Knowledge is important, but it's clear these programs don't prevent people from perpetuating sexual violence."
So, what can NOVA do to bring a change.
According to AAUW, schools must develop policies, procedures, and campus wide training to ensure proper handling of sexual violence, and these actions must be outlined in their annual reports. NOVA needs to incorporate trainings and programs into the school system to educate its students on reporting, prevention and better understanding of sexual harassment in general. Even though traditional programs are not something to be disregarded the statistical data we have is a proof more is needed.
A growing number of schools are making sexual violence education mandatory. Elon University in North Carolina, for example, must take a course online before they even reach campus that walks them through the ethics of relationships and alcohol's effect on behavior.
"You can't do a one-time program and expect it to make a difference," says Ruth Anne Koenick, director of the Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey–New Brunswick. Dartmouth students will get a refresher course every year about healthy relationships and how to prevent and respond to misconduct. Moreover, many schools are building up their online resources explaining stalking, the dangers of date rape drugs, how to support a friend who's been
victimized.
police keep the data on every report. These data and information are available on their website for all students and faculties. Per the statistical data on the year 2014 there were 4 sexual harassment reports, these harassments are, 1 hate crime or incident, 1 dating violence and 2 stalking. It is a known fact that sexual harassments do occur on campuses premises, a 2006 study by The American Association of University Women indicates 62% of female college students report having been sexually harassed at their university. That means more than half of the female students are being sexually harassed but according to the NOVA campus police there has only been 4 reports made in one year. Having a low number of harassment reports is not necessarily a sign that all is well rather but it is arguable that students do not feel comfortable coming forward to report such crimes and their knowledge of reporting sexual harassment before it turns to sexual assault is very low. If nova accepts these reports as factual it is being oblivious to what is happening to the students. It could be concluded that whatever is being done currently by the campus to encourage students to report incidents is not enough. There is a void and that needs to be filled by educating students and staff.
According to a research done by American Association of University women (AAUW), nearly two-third of college students experience some sort of sexual harassment.
Yet less than 10% of their students tell a college employee and even a smaller number officially report it. It is no different in NOVA, the number of reports on sexual harassment is very low and consequently disturbing. There could be multiple reasons why students are not reporting sexual harassment incidents. If a change is wanted understanding these reasons should be the first step. Most common reasons why victims fall to report according to AAUM are, victims often believe that no one will do anything about the problem. When a person is sexually harassed, it is common to feel their problem is not that “big of a deal” or important to report and no one will take it seriously. Second, victims are afraid of being blamed, blaming the victim has been done so commonly done by perpetrators that victims withhold them-self form reporting. Sexual assault victims often feel that there are many reasons to why they should not report but the biggest reason being it is not “a bid deal” playes the biggest role. Educational institutes need to educate their students and faculties to speak out. Moreover, sexual harassment has a gray and blurry line for both the victims and the departments that are dealing with sexual misconducts. The fact that it is nearly impossible to bring a proof of sexual harassment unlike sexual assault make …show more content…
the issue even more complicated. Other than to think of it as unwanted sexual behavior according to the survey done by Catherine Hill and Elena Silva a senior research associate at the AAUW Educational Foundation most students do not seem to have a shared standard for defining sexual harassment. Despite their private concern, college students are reluctant to talk about sexual harassment openly and inclined to think of it as a joke or disregard the issue. However, if schools create a clear line on what sexual harassment is and educate their students and staff it would be easy to manage and be on the same page. The consequence that sexual harassment brings to a school and individuals is serious. Sexual harassment is damaging emotionally and jeopardize the academic well-being of students. It provokes and aggravate conflict midst students, and contribute to a hostile learning atmosphere.
Hollaback an organization working to end harassment collected a data from 282 undergraduate and part-time college students and 44 college administrators to find out how harassment exists in spaces of higher education and they came up with these findings:
67% of students experienced harassment on campus
61% witnessed another student being harassed on college campus
46% of students said harassment caused disappointment with college experience
20% said harassment caused inability to concentrate in class
23% said harassment prevented attendance in class / social activities. Knowing sexual harassment occur is not enough, knowing how to deal with it and prevent it should be what NOVA strives for. NOVA has been working in educating its students and employees on sexual violence. Last semester NOVA women’s center organized to show the film the “hunting Ground” which lead to a diction about the reality of sexual assault on campuses. And this event is continual and there will be another event in May. Even though such events are something to be appreciated the fact remains more needs to be done. On an article published by U.S News, titled; How colleges are battling sexual violence, Sarah DeGue, a behavioral scientist says - Traditional programs aimed at prevention "are brief – one hour or less – and focused on improving knowledge about the problem," and Knowledge is important, but it's clear these programs don't prevent people from perpetuating sexual violence."
So, what can NOVA do to bring a change.
According to AAUW, schools must develop policies, procedures, and campus wide training to ensure proper handling of sexual violence, and these actions must be outlined in their annual reports. NOVA needs to incorporate trainings and programs into the school system to educate its students on reporting, prevention and better understanding of sexual harassment in general. Even though traditional programs are not something to be disregarded the statistical data we have is a proof more is needed.
A growing number of schools are making sexual violence education mandatory. Elon University in North Carolina, for example, must take a course online before they even reach campus that walks them through the ethics of relationships and alcohol's effect on behavior.
"You can't do a one-time program and expect it to make a difference," says Ruth Anne Koenick, director of the Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey–New Brunswick. Dartmouth students will get a refresher course every year about healthy relationships and how to prevent and respond to misconduct. Moreover, many schools are building up their online resources explaining stalking, the dangers of date rape drugs, how to support a friend who's been
victimized.