UGBC builds sexual assault awareness and support
In the wake of a sexual assault, survivors face psychological burdens that reach far beyond the date of the attack. The circumstances in each survivor’s case may vary, but one of the most prevalent - and preventable - responses is a reluctance to seek assistance.
Beginning last semester, the women’s issues department of the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) has sought to reach out to victims by raising student and administrative awareness of sexual assault issues on campus. The co-directors of UGBC women’s issues have collaborated with health services, the Women’s Resource Center, and the Boston College Police, to spread the word about options for sexual assault survivors - most recently, the availability of financial compensation for victims of violent crime in Massachusetts.
Along with the emotional costs associated with sexual assault come unexpected financial costs, including medications, counseling expenses, lost wages, and various hospital bills. Many survivors, especially those with low incomes, avoid hospital treatment, fearing the potential costs.
College students often have a different problem, stemming from their desire to withhold information about a sexual assault from their family and friends: Since they use their parents’ insurance, the possibility of a hospital bill being sent home heightens their reluctance to seek help.
Caroline Mullin, one of the co-directors of women’s issues in the UGBC and A&S ‘08, learned about victim compensation programs while working at Harlem Hospital’s Center for Victim Support in New York this summer.
Her job entailed performing initial assessments with sexual assault victims and helping them fill out the necessary paperwork to apply for financial compensation through New York State’s Crime Victims Board.
“Essentially, my job was extremely simple,” Mullin said in an e-mail. “I sat down with them, filled out all the paperwork, gave them Dr. Weintraub [the director]’s card and sent in the application. Having the opportunity to relieve these patients of such a great burden was one of the most gratifying things I have ever done.”
The victim compensation program in Massachusetts is managed by Attorney General Martha Coakley and is similar to the one in New York. For victims to receive compensation, they must report the crime to the police within five days unless there is “good cause for delay,” a stipulation that Mullin acknowledges is liberally interpreted by the state because of the distressing nature of the situation.
As a final requirement, victims must apply for compensation within three years of the crime (unless they are under 18, in which case they may apply until age 21), but this is another conditional restriction.
Mullin and her co-directors - Cecilia Fierro, A&S ‘08, and Emily Plane, LSOE ‘09 - sought to spread their knowledge of this program to the BC community by making information available to officials in health services and the BCPD.
Nancy Baker, the associate director for administration and nursing in health services, was one of their contacts. Mullin said she was “extremely receptive” to the information, as she was then able with the program to help sexual assault survivors at BC pay for their medical bills.
The women’s issues representatives also brought the information to Capt. Margaret Connolly of the BCPD - though she was already aware of the compensation program, Mullin and her co-directors hoped to “remind” BCPD to make the information more available to BC students.
Though BC offers support services to sexual assault survivors through many avenues, the aim of many of the UGBC’s initiatives is to make such information as accessible as possible.
Baker emphasized the importance of providing support services to survivors: “We are here to try and empower survivors, since one of the most basic violations that takes place is their becoming powerless.”
Baker, who is also a staff volunteer for the Sexual Assault Network at BC, stresses the need for the channels of support to be constantly open. SANet, a group of students and staff trained as advocates for sexual assault victims, is available at the phone number listed on the back of every student’s Eagle-One card: 617-522-BC11.
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By: Jaclyn Bernstein, http://media.www.bcheights.com/
