Campus Response to Student Demands - 2017

Students Demands

Campus response

Create and fund a Survivor Resource Center which must include and provide the following:

  • A full-time Director who is responsible for the management of the Survivor Resource Center, along with staff that will be attentive and sensitive to student needs.
  • Survivor-specific legal services.
  • Accurate statistical information from the university and each police department with jurisdiction over Isla Vista and UCSB.
  • 5 student paid positions that will assist in day-to-day operations and lead programming efforts.
  • Assist/provide survivors with timely transportation to and from hospitals, campus departments, county offices, and other locations that the survivor need to attend.
  • Coordinate all resources for survivors of sexual assault in their self-care/healing process in a timely manner.
  • Provide trainings for organizations on campus that include bystander intervention, cultural competency, as well as information on campus resources for survivors.

Students continue to meet and discuss strategies for this to be a grass roots endeavor.

UCSB has committed to continue research and consultation to partner with a nation-wide agency Alliance for Hope to conduct an assessment and create strategic plan for a survivor resource center. A Funding proposal for this partnership has been submitted, and is waiting response.

As of January 2018, the following enhancements have been made to CARE as it related to survivor services which is located in Isla Vista and on campus:

Branding and Publicity:

  • Creation of "Communities we CARE for" website page
  • New advocacy brochure
  • Social media myth busting campaign "CARE to Know"
  • In 2016-2017, 74 educational sessions held in Isla Vista

"Who we are": Staffing updates

  • Full time professional CARE Administrative Assistant hired.
  • Increased Prevention Education Coordinator from part time to full time, whose office is located in IV satellite office and focusing on programming, for Graduate Students, Isla Vista efforts, and communities of color.
  • No open vacancies at CARE.
  • Six undergraduate staff & one graduate staff.
  • Overall increases in diversity of staff to better serve communities of color and LGBTQ+ communities.

Advocacy Service Delivery

  • Advocates continue to provide confidential and privileged advocacy support services 24 hours a day to students, staff, and faculty. To learn more visit our "Survivor Services" website page
  • Creation of survivor feedback survey to measure effectiveness and impact of CARE services
  • Education and Training. To learn more visit our Involvement Overview website page
     

Counseling and Psychological Services must provide adequate and timely mental health services to survivors and their families, and coordinate with the Survivor Resource Center in order to enforce priority scheduling for timely intakes.

The CAPS interpersonal violence team has grown to eight clinicians. CAPS has diversified days and times of group offerings, and added special considerations to standard intake procedures. All survivor specific services are coordinated by the Interpersonal Violence Specialist. Support groups continue to be offered Monday through Friday, which include alternative healing programs "Yoga as Healing", and "Building Resilience: A Group for Survivors."

Learn more about the work of the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS).

Update and sign Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) between UCSB Police Department (UCPD) and Isla Vista Foot Patrol (IVFP) division of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department, as well as other local bodies of law enforcement, to include the following:

  • Mandatory sensitive trainings on sexual assault/interpersonal violence which address race, gender, class, and sexuality
  • Jurisdiction and protocol as to how cases are managed
  • Investigation into previous and current mismanaged cases of sexual assault reporting by law enforcement officials
     

The UCSB Police Department remain committed to the training and service delivery of officers and engagement in numerous county partnerships with other law enforcement agencies, including the IVFP.

Learn more about UCPD
Read the current MOU
 

Work with UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara City College to develop a way for SBCC to be more transparent about students who have been disciplined for Title IX violations regarding current or former students, and work in conjunction in order to prosecute and process sexual assault cases that happen between students from both campuses.

UC Santa Barbara values our partnership with Santa Barbara City College leadership and will continue to develop individual professional relationships among administrators. UCSB and SBCC also come together through the committees: Coordinated Community Response Team (CCRT), Isla Vista Safe Task Force, and the Isla Vista Community Services District (CSD).

The UCSB Title IX Officer, Ariana Alvarez maintains a collaborative relationship with her counterpart at SBCC.

Develop incentives for faculty and other academics to develop courses and conduct research studying the culture of rape in Isla Vista, such as research grants and support from the Academic Senate.

Since 2016, all UC CARE Offices have been partnering with the UC Global Health Initiative: The Center of Expertise on Women's Health, Gender, and Empowerment (WHGE) to promote academic research. Additionally, CARE partners with curriculum and content delivery for Education 118 courses and provides technical assistance for the Communication Department senior seminar "Communicating Consent."
 

Work with the Isla Vista Community Services District to develop a report card for government institutions and law enforcement agencies, for behaviors and education surrounding rape and sexual assault in Isla Vista, including:

  • Documenting how many incidences have occurred in Isla Vista
  • Accounting how many community meetings and events have been held to promote education
  • UCSB continues to support the partnership of the CSD through attending meetings, events, and creating change together. Statistical information provided by UCSB can best be found in the Clery report and the Division of Student Affairs Annual Report.

    For more information contact CSD:
    Official Website
    Facebook page

    Create a policy modification to Title IX Campus Implementation, which allows sexual assault survivors to transfer to a different educational institution if they desire.

    UCSB has shared this with the appropriate personnel at UC Office of the President for review for when the policy is modified. Locally, CARE supports a survivor's decision to stay or leave UCSB, and will work each individual client to find the path that best suits their needs. UCSB has shared this student feedback with the appropriate personnel at UC Office of the President for review for when the policy is modified.

    Learn more about the current UC policy on sexual violence prevention and response.
     

    Work with local government to fund increased lighting and improved infrastructure in Isla Vista, specifically on Slough Road, in order to make it a safer environment for residents.

    UCSB has inquired with appropriate campus administrative personnel. Any further efforts will require approval by the California Coastal Commission. However, UCPD conducts routine safety walks through campus and students are invited to participate and provide feedback.

    For more information visit:
    California Coastal Commission
    Annual Lighting and Safety Walk

    Organize a meeting with all UC Chancellors on our UC Santa Barbara campus to develop system-wide level changes, reflecting the resources that are needed in every campus.

    This request has been forwarded to the UC Office of the President via the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.

    In the interim, the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, UCSB Dean of Students, Title IX Officers, and CARE Directors meet routinely by phone and in person with each of their counterparts at other UC campuses and with UC Office of the President leadership. All administrators are committed to participating in ongoing sexual violence conversations about systemic improvements and the concerns of the UCSB student body.
     

    Add Queer Connect to reporting and trainings in order to make queer and trans* folks safe and their reporting process private in order to protect them. In any process be certain that queer and trans survivors' correct pronouns are used in communication and in any and all paperwork regarding their assault.

    Queer Connect continues to be a CARE project in partnership with the Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity (RCSGD).

    Schedule a CARE workshop: "Spectrum: Interpersonal Violence within LGBTQ Communities"

    Learn more about how CARE advocates work with LGBTQIA+ survivors.

    Demand that UC President conduct yearly UC tours, where they will hold a public Sexual Assault/Sexual Violence Town Hall at every single UC campus once per year, in order to hold them publicly accountable and provide spaces for students to directly communicate demands and grievances to UCOP and to the UC-wide administration.
     

    CARE and student activists worked together to bring UC President designee, VP of Student Affairs, Dr. Robin Holmes Sullivan, to the UCSB campus for a town hall meeting held on February 8, 2018.

    Demand that Chancellor Yang and his office continuously update students publicly about the progress being made on these demands.

  • If adequate progress is not made or if this is not properly communicated to students, the university administration must make a donation to the Survivor Fund and to survivor-related resources on campus.
  • UCSB Vice Chancellor for Student provided written updates on the demands in October 2017 and held a Town Hall meeting in November 2017 to discuss progress. Additionally, personal donations to survivor fund have been made by staff.