Introduction: This article was about a Sexual Assault Forum held on campus. Students, alumni, professors and community members were invited to here interim President Scott Coltrane and other members of the Office of the President speak about sexual assault on campus and how the university was responding to the growing issue.

 

“Animal House is satire. The real UO is a nightmare!” was just one of the picket signs held by concerned members of the UO community at the Sexual Assault forum at the Ford Alumni Center on March 2.

The Sexual Assault forum allowed community members a chance to address UO administration, specifically interim president Scott Coltrane, about the UO’s response to cases of sexual assault.

After a Power Point presentation, Coltrane opened up the forum to questions. Certain audience members questioned the universities integrity for filing a lawsuit against a student. After a particularly heated back and forth discussion the question, “How much money have you spent on these lawsuits?” was met with silence.

The University of Oregon has spent the past year in the national spotlight for issues regarding sexual assault. Recently, tensions have risen between UO community members and administration over the handling of sexual assault cases on campus, particularly one that occurred in the spring of 2014.

Last spring, three Oregon basketball players were accused of sexual assault and have since been suspended from school. Administration came under fire after the victim and her family claimed the school stalled in legal proceedings regarding the sexual assault because of the basketball team participating in the NCAA basketball tournament.

In January of 2015, the victim filed a lawsuit against the University of Oregon and Dana Altman, the men’s basketball coach, for recruiting a basketball player who had been previously accused of sexual assault.

The university responded with a counterclaim in February, claiming it had no knowledge of prior allegations against the student athlete. Critics have come out against the university after it was released that the UO accessed the victim’s therapy records in order to build a case against the lawsuit.

Last week, a campus petition urging the university to “stop suing rape survivors” garnered over 2,000 signatures from students, alumni, and faculty.

Since then, the university has dropped the counterclaim against the lawsuit.

University of Oregon administration reached out to campus groups for recommendations to improve the way sexual assault is addressed and prevented on campus.

The Office of the President received over 120 recommendations.

Coltrane started the forum by addressing ways the university would be changing its policy towards sexual assault.

“We are more than tripling staff members and dedicating $15,000 in funding for survivor support,” Coltrane said. Out of the 120 recommendations presented UO administration hopes to implement at least 100.

Common themes among the recommendations were coordination between departments on campus and creating an environment where survivors felt like they could safely file a report.

The Office of the President is responding by adding a vice president position that will oversee the handling of sexual assault on campus.

The second half of the forum was dedicated to members of administration answering questions from the audience.

Of the 150 people that attended the sexual assault forum many were from the UO Coalition to End Sexual Violence, an on-campus activist group aiming to “to raise awareness about sexual violence on our campus, and advocate for a safe and equitable educational experience” according to their website.

Dana Rogulie, a member of the coalition, held a sign saying “End the Pimping of UO Cheerleaders” in response to the UO Cheerleading squad singing happy birthday to Nike co-founder and UO donor Phil Knight.

In her question, Rogulie addressed the lawsuit the UO filed against the victim and claimed it created an environment where survivors feel like they couldn’t come forward.

“How much money have you spent on these lawsuits?” Rogulie asked Coltrane.

After a period of silence Coltrane said, “I don’t know how much money is spent on any one particular thing.”

Kathleen Piovesan, another member of the coalition, felt dissatisfied with the interim president’s answers.

“Can we be issued an apology to the way students have been treated on this campus,” she asked Coltrane.

The question portion of the forum was followed by brainstorming sessions where attendees broke into groups to discuss more recommendations for university administration.

According to a survey conducted by the University of Oregon last fall, of the 1,000 students polled, 19% of female students claimed they were victims of sexual attacks. That same survey revealed that 86% of those who had been victims of a sexual crime did not report it to school officials.

A woman in the audience held a sign saying “20 a week is 20 too many.” The sign referenced the statistic that 20 sexual attacks occur on the University of Oregon campus every week released in the final report of the UO Senate Task Force. The woman left the forum before the brainstorming session began, shaking her head saying, “20 sexual assaults a week and we’re sitting here brainstorming…”