Meeting Outcomes

Outcomes from March 25, 2022 meeting:

The primary purpose of this meeting was to review and begin revisions to a first draft of the committee's final report.

The committee is on track to submit its report to President Shepard in early April.

Outcomes from March 11, 2022 meeting:

The primary purpose of this meeting was to review and begin consolidating key recommendations to include in the committee's final report.

The committee will be devoting itself for the balance of March to drafting its final report for submission to President Shepard later this spring.

 Outcomes from February 25, 2022 meeting:

The primary purpose of this meeting was to review the findings from the two surveys conducted by the AC-GBSV.

While more detailed analysis is ongoing, especially regarding how to integrate a gendered and intersectional approach to all recommendations, the following highlights are provided to the community, along with the Committee’s thanks to all who took the time to provide their insights.

Campus Climate Survey

  • Over 900 respondents; two-thirds were students and the other third faculty, staff, administrators.

  • Around one-third reported they had witnessed or experienced gender-based violence on campus in the past year. Students were much more likely to report witnessing or experiencing GBSV than faculty, staff and administrators.

  • Around 1 in 5 undergraduates and 1 in 10 graduate/post-doc/professional students report usually feeling unsafe or very unsafe on campus. Students who identify themselves as gender diverse or as female are considerably more likely to report feeling unsafe. Few male identifying students, faculty, staff and administrators report feeling unsafe on campus. 

  • Student respondents were generally aware of three campus services: mental health counselling, health and wellness services, and the writing skills centre. Fewer than one-third of students knew about core campus-based GBSV support services (i.e., GBSV support case manager and GBSV case coordinator). These core services were known by approximately one-quarter of faculty and one-third of staff/administration.

  • Respondents gave 522 responses to the question of what is needed to make campus safer. These suggestions were presented to the GBSV Action Committee and are being used to inform recommendations. 


Partner and Collaborator Survey

  • The partner and collaborator survey had excellent uptake among off-campus GBSV and related organizations.

  • On this survey, respondents were asked to answer four open-ended questions; 64 people gave suggestions on strategies to make campus safer and more inclusive.
     
  • Themes of responses clustered in five areas and the Committee is integrating them into the recommendation development process: 1) GBSV prevention/ education/training; 2) Improve response to incidents; 3) Policy/procedure changes; 4) Culture change at Western; 5) Physical/environmental changes to improve safety on campus.

Outcomes from February 11, 2022 meeting:

  • Thank you to everyone who has participated in our ongoing surveys – we’ve received about 800 responses and there’s still time to provide your input - closing date is February 17. We’ve started reviewing and analyzing the data to include in our recommendation development process.

  • We’ve been actively reviewing Western’s environmental safety planning and related reports and developing specific recommendations to support the safety of people on our campus. While the vast majority of sexual assaults take place between people who know each other, it is also important that all members of campus feel safe when moving from place to place, either outside or within our buildings.

  • The roll-out of education and small-group sessions to first year students continues, and we’re pleased that the latter are leading to sometimes challenging discussions about the norms and narratives that underpin sexual violence. We’re proud of our students for engaging in this difficult work – you can see some of their positive comments here.

Outcomes from January 28, 2022 meeting:

  • The Committee finalized plans to launch two anonymous online surveys to invite feedback from individual campus members as well as community groups engaged with the issue of GBSV.

  • A web link to the Climate Survey will be emailed on Feb 3 to all students, faculty, and staff members at Western, Huron, Brescia, and King’s.

  • A web link to the Community Partner & Collaborator Survey will be emailed on Feb 3 to various on-campus and off-campus groups, including members of the London Coordinating Committee to End Woman Abuse.

  • The Committee also discussed interim recommendations for strategies that could better prepare students, parents/caregivers, residence staff, and campus members for new students’ transition to campus life, with a focus on safety and well-being. More details on this item will be publicized soon.

Outcomes from January 14, 2022 meeting:

  • The Committee would like to highlight work happening across campus, including training, awareness-raising, outreach, and engagement activities led by Western Student Experience, the University Students’ Council, the Society of Graduate Students, and the student-led Safe Campus Coalition. There is a lot of important activity underway, and we are collaborating with key partners at Anova and the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women & Children to develop recommendations we hope will help enhance, extend, and assess the impact of this impressive work.

  • The Committee’s work is intensifying, with each working group pushing forward on specific activities to gather input to formulate actionable recommendations.

  • A key focus is on communications. USC, SOGS, Western Student Experience and our partners – Anova and CREVAWC – have been extraordinarily busy rolling out new initiatives, but there is a sense these have not been adequately communicated in a coordinated way, leaving the campus community unaware.

  • The Committee will prioritize a plan to communicate in the near term what’s been happening (beyond these key points on the website) and, moving forward, provide consolidated summaries of ongoing and planned activities.

  • Ultimately, we will develop a proposed communication strategy to accompany the recommendations put forward to the President.

  • Questions for the brief community survey are being finalize for release this month.

Outcomes from December 9, 2021 meeting:

  • The four working groups have begun meeting and engaging additional expertise and experience from across campus, including reaching out to specific groups and individuals with valuable insights to share.

  • In January, the campus community will be invited to share specific ideas and strategies for action via an online survey – please stay tuned.

  • This will be followed up by targeted group discussions in February.

  • An important goal of the Committee is to assess the range of activities being undertaken, ensure coordination and lack of duplication, provide strategies to measure the impact of these actions, and continue to ensure clear and ongoing communication among those conducting these activities, and with the broader community.

 Outcomes from November 19, 2021 meeting:

  • The Committee is forming working groups around four topic areas: 1) Consultation/engagement; 2) Communication/coordination; 3) Policy/accountability; 4) Evaluation/assessment

  • Each working group will bring ideas in these areas to inform actionable recommendations to the larger Action Committee for discussion and integration 

  • We heard about the extraordinary amount of activity being undertaken across campus, both by the Gender and Sexual Violence Education and Response group in Wellness, and by USC, with both sets of activities being supported in multiple ways by experts from Anova and CREVAWC

  • This included discussion of the various GBSV Education Programs currently underway at Western, and the range of Support Options for Survivors of Sexual Violence. 

  • A key goal of this Committee will be recommending ways for cross-campus activities to be better coordinated and communicated.

  • We have already heard through various consultations that specific environmental measures would make people feel safer on campus, including better lighting in specific areas.

  • The Committee has asked for a review of existing Safe Cities data for campus, and will make recommendations on immediate changes that could support safety. 

Outcomes from November 2, 2021 meeting: 

  • At its first meeting, the Committee reviewed, enhanced, and finalized its Terms of Reference

  • Members observed that GBSV is a complex issue that intersects with other social issues affecting our campus and the broader community. The Committee notes that work aimed at addressing social norms and practices that enable and glorify sexual violence is inherently political.

  • Members heard about the new student-facing education, launched October 21 by Student Experience, Wellness and Equity Education in partnership with CREVAWCand Anova. 

  • Members heard about new employee-facing education that is underway in partnership with CREVAWC, to support survivors disclosing violence. 

  • The Committee will develop a project plan structured with working groups, each focused on a key topic with actionable recommendations and implementation considerations, to be outlined in a final report to Western's President in early Spring 2022. 

  • Building on existing and ongoing work, we’ll be looking for a broad range of inputs from campus and London community members to support best practices in prevention, education and response.