My parents would be here in 12 hours
Facilitator: How do you think older members of your family would respond to this
policy? Whether parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents. Tell me who you are thinking of and what would they say.
Participant 1: "Your flight is booked [chuckles] be at the airport for 6:45."
Participant 2: My parents would be here in 12 hours pressing charges and everything, suing the school. It's that simple.
Facilitator: So they don't care about the policy either, they just care about you?
[snaps fingers] "times moving fast, 24 hrs to get this resolved! We all know who did it; we all know what happened. Let's go run me a check." [laughs]
Participant 3: My parents aren't worried about the policy, they are just worrying about their child, so they would do anything [for their child].
Facilitator: So, our cultural group, if we tell our parents that we were sexually assaulted, they aren't going to be worried about what policy is in place. They will come here, and we are going to go back home.
Participant 2: yes!
Participant 3: Or, "we're going try to resolve this."
Recommendations
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Allow victim/survivors to share their experiences and seek support when they are ready. Offer information about time limits for reporting when applicable.
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When responding to a disclosure or report of sexual violence, highlight that students have the choice to involve support people of their choice, including friends or family members. Offer to reach out to support people if the student prefers. This applies to the victim/survivor or complainant and respondent.