Dear President Burwell, Ms. Annexstein - AVP of the Office of Equity and Title IX , Dr. Ou - Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Felder, Dr. Friday, Mr. Morse, Dr. Starr, Mr. Brown, and Dr. Volkmann,
Last year, many of you received a letter detailing the demands of 1409 members of the American University community that called upon you to implement critical measures to support survivors of sexual violence on this campus. Last year, we told you Change Can’t Wait. However, as of today, none of those demands have been fully enacted. Survivors have been left waiting and at risk because of your office’s inaction. We hope that now, as you are presented once again with demands to implement measures that survivors of sexual violence direly need and deserve, you respond with action.
Some of you are new in your roles as administrators on our campus and in your respective offices. You may not have been here last year to witness the struggles that so many student’s faced when advocating for support systems to be responsive to the needs of survivors of sexual violence on our campus. We are hopeful that you engage with our demands with the action that survivors deserve.
Last year, we called for the implementation of the 5 demands. Our community has since identified 11 demands, including those original demands that were not implemented. These demands reflect the needs of survivors of sexual violence on our campus and the needs created by the inaction of your offices on the demands submitted to you last year.
As was demanded last year, American University must implement a Survivors Bill of Rights. The American University Student Government (AUSG) crafted and unanimously passed a Survivor Bill of Rights, Resolution 18-015 and Directive 18-001, based upon similar student-made legislation by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The AUSG legislation was created in coordination with students, survivors, survivor advocates, student organizations, and End Rape on Campus. The Survivor Bill of Rights implemented by the university must be inclusive of the provisions within the AUSG version. The University must engage with students, relevant student organizations, and expert partners, such as End Rape on Campus, in the creation of their Survivior Bill of Rights. In an email on November 9th, 2023, Sarah Baldassaro, Interim Vice President for Inclusive Excellence and Chief of Staff to the President, Bronté Burleigh-Jones, CFO, Vice President, and Treasurer, and Raymond Ou, Vice President of Student Affairs, notified students that they were “collaborating with student government and community members on next steps for the Survivors’ Bill of Rights, with the intent of sharing the document with the community this academic year.” The “next step” must be implementation. The University must commit to enacting a Survivor Bill of Rights by May 1st, 2024.
As was demanded last year, the University must mandate in-person annual sexual violence prevention and response training for all employees, including student employees, that is trauma-informed, survivor-centered, and led by outside facilitators from reputable organizations such as ItsOnUs, KnowYourIX, End Rape On Campus, or DC Rape Crisis Center.
The administration must enter into a minimum 3-year contract with one of these organizations to provide this annual training. The administration must not renew its contract with Get Inclusive or its current contracted training provider. As was demanded last year, the university must mandate in-person annual sexual violence prevention and response training for all students that is trauma informed, survivor centered, and led by outside facilitators from reputable organizations such as ItsOnUs, KnowYourIX, End Rape On Campus, or DC Rape Crisis Center. The quality and content of these trainings must be standardized across all students to ensure effectiveness. Failure to complete and attend training must result in some punitive measure, such as the inability to register for classes or referral to the formal student conduct process.The administration must enter into a minimum 3-year contract with one of these organizations to provide this annual training. The administration must not renew its contract with Get Inclusive or its current contracted training provider.
The University must implement an amnesty policy. This policy must protect students who are engaged in adjudicative processes from facing punishment if they reveal they defied the university's Alcohol and Other Drugs Policy. This policy must be published to all students through a mass email and maintained publicly accessible on the University's policy webpage. Survivors and witnesses of sexual violence and harassment must be protected when seeking justice.
The University must implement annual Campus Climate Surveys that collect data on sexual violence and publish the aggregated data to all community members. The University must increase the frequency of the Campus Climate Survey annually. In accordance with Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022, §1161l-6, American University must collect data regarding student experiences with domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and stalking. This anonymized, aggregate data must be published to all community members when the Annual Security Report is published through mass email and continued online access. The American University Police Department webpage is a candidate for where the online report would be hosted and available. No matter the location, this report must remain available and public on a university webpage at all points after it is published. Students have a right to be informed of the rate and risk of sexual violence on their campus.
The University, through the Office of Equity and Title IX must hire a third ‘Equity & Title IX Investigator’. The application for this position must be published and the hiring process begun by January 17th, 2024. The Office of Equity and Title IX must hire the third ‘Equity & Title IX Investigator’ by the start of the 2024-2025 Academic School Year. Unnecessarily lengthy investigations due to limited bandwidth of this office diminishes students' access to timely restorative and supportive measures and quality investigations as time reduces the reliability of evidence collected. Office of Equity and Title IX, AVP Annexstein noted the availability of a budget to host three investigators during an October 2023 town hall. The Office of Equity & Title IX must publish monthly updates on the progress of the hiring process, as has been similarly published for the University President search.
The University must, through the Office of Equity and Title IX, Office of Student Accountability and Restorative Practices, and Division of Student Affairs, launch a formal Student Ambassador Program to solicit student input on issues of campus safety, sexual violence prevention, and supportive measures. Ambassadors will be selected by the student body and will have quarterly meetings with representatives from the Office of Equity & Title IX, the Office of Student Accountability and Restorative Practices, and Division of Student Affairs to address student concerns.
As was demanded last year, the university, through the Office of Equity and Title IX must update the Office of Equity and Title IX website at least monthly to accurately reflect the state of Title IX and university policies. This website should include a comprehensive resource guide that is easily available, as well as a page with Frequently Asked Questions regarding the Title IX process
The University, through the former Community Working Group (CWG) chairs or the Chief of Staff & Interim Vice President of Inclusive Excellence in the Office of the President, must publish the finalized demands of the CWG. In November 2022, President Sylvia Burwell announced the CWG, tasking it to "make recommendations to the university’s senior leadership and decisions will be shared with the community." The final draft of the recommendations of the CWG was never sent to all members of the AU community who engaged with the CWG. The final draft of the recommendations must be sent to all AU community members who engaged with the CWG so that they may be solicited for approval or disapproval of the document. The disapproval and approvals must be tallied with that count published alongside the final CWG recommendations to the entire AU community.
As was demanded last year, the university, through the Center for Wellbeing and Psychological Services, must hire at least one trauma-informed counselor trained in sexual violence response and PTSD treatment related to sexual violence.
The University must provide emergency contraception that is both affordable and available 24/7 through the addition of emergency contraceptive dispensing vending machines on the main campus. The emergency contraceptives dispensed must be priced between $10 to $15. American University Students for Reproductive Justice and Students for Change have collected the signatures of 540 students so far, calling for the implementation of such a measure.
This letter calls upon the administration to send a school-wide email updating students and all members of the AU community on any attempts the university has made to fulfill these demands, and an action plan to fulfill these ten demands moving forward. Students need transparency from the administration, and deserve to be promptly updated when any of these demands are fulfilled. We expect the first communication about the updates in enacting these demands to be sent to all members of the AU community by January 17th, 2024.
Once again, together in hope for a community free from sexual violence,
American University students, staff, faculty, alumni, and allies.
