San Diego State University’s Sexual Violence Task Force on Thursday hosted its first of bi-weekly briefings about sexual violence at the university.
Title IX Coordinator Jessica Rentto, campus police Capt. Joshua Mays and Associate Vice President for Campus Life Christy Samarkos led the the discussion with faculty, staff and students.
The task force touched on preventing sexual violence, how SDSU responds, what kind of support is available to victims, how the campus police are trained to respond to reports of sexual violence and the campus judicial process.
In January, the university received a $200,000 grant to “combat sexual violence,” from the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. The grant expands the university's ability to help victims, said Rentto.
“This grant provides SDSU with additional resources allowing us to fund additional positions focused on sexual violence prevention and it provides resources so that SDSU can implement cutting edge programs and activities,” Rentto said. “SDSU, together with the San Diego-based Center for Community Solutions, can be a real model for how universities across the country handle the issue of sexual assault.”
The Title IX website makes clear that criminal and university responses to sexual violence reports are separate processes. Victims have the “right to report the incident without pursuing [criminal] charges.“
San Diego State said it will pursue investigations into all reports of sexual violence, and if a student is accused of being an attacker, the university may pursue its own disciplinary process.
“University proceedings provide a prompt, fair and impartial investigation and resolution and the investigations are conducted by officials who receive annual training,“ according to a statement on the university's Title IX website.
