After a controversial academic year for the University’s sexual violence policy that included the suspension of a duty to disclose requirement, the process to write a new policy has been deferred.
A decision regarding a new policy was scheduled to be reached at the end of March, following a consultative process undertaken by the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Task Force since January.
“Due to the rapid escalation of issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the completion of the consultation process for the Policy on Sexual Violence Involving Queen’s University Students will be deferred until further notice to ensure all faculty, staff, and students have adequate time to reflect on the Policy and provide thoughtful feedback,” Teri Shearer, deputy provost (Academic Operations and Inclusion), wrote in a statement to The Journal.
According to Shearer, the suspension of the requirement that University employees provide a disclosing student’s name and contact information to the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Coordinator (SVPRC) remains in place. However, University employees must still disclose the sexual violence instance regardless, though names of disclosers may only be shared with discloser consent.
Currently, employees can report disclosures to the SVPRC once the student who has made the disclosure have given them explicit consent to do so.
Will Greene, AMS vice-president (University Affairs), told The Journal earlier this month that the Task Force planned to consider the Student Voices on Sexual Violence survey results as part of the process to draft a new policy.
Corrections
This article has been updated to reflect the detailed nature of the disclosure requirement.
The Journal regrets the error
Tags
Covid-19, sexual violence policy
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