A brick wall between us and that policy
It’s really frustrating as a student, because, it feels like they’ve, they put a brick wall between us and that policy. It feels like they’re trying to put every single barrier that they possibly can between students and forming it [the policy] by like, closing it off, shutting down a lot of conversation about the policy on campus. It gets really hard to engage administrators in talking about this, because they just want to stop the conversation. They’re just like, "Well, we can’t talk about that right now," which is extremely frustrating. It's like, I want this policy to help, not only me and the students that are at Saint Mary’s now, but, like, students to come as-well. So, it’s really frustrating to not be able to, like, have a conversation about it, not even in a formal capacity. So, it feels like they bricked off the policy and like any input that students have for it.
Recommendations
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Promote SANE nurses as supporters for victims/survivors. Ideally, this would happen in the context of a formal partnership with SANE nurses, which includes 24/7 availability of SANE nurse services on campus.
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Outline the policy review process and timeline within the policy and educational materials.
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Engage with student leaders from diverse cultural backgrounds and genders when revising policy content and associated services. Ensure the concerns raised by these students are foregrounded in policy development and application.