When an individual survives sexual assault, he or she can handle the situation in many ways. For college students, this situation can be very complicated — juggling classes while dealing with emotional stress and legal and medical issues associated with the assault.
Julie Hupperich, associate director of the Student Health Center and coordinator of the Wellness Center’s Sexual Assault Victim’s Advocacy Program, said the program began in 2000 to teach faculty and staff members how to work with sexual assault victims.
Hupperich said the program began as a response to the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990, which requires all universities to publish an annual report that contains three years’ worth of campus crime statistics and certain security policy statements, including sexual assault policies identifying basic victims’ rights, campus police authority in these situations and where students can report these crimes.
The Act was renamed the Clery Act in 1998 in memory of college student Jeanne Clery, who was murdered at Lehigh University in 1986. Hupperich said she does not know if other universities have programs similar to SAVA, but it is the University’s way of making the process easier for sexual assault survivors.
Amy Cavender, a coordinator at the Student Health Center and a SAVA, said the program serves to more accurately track sexual assault cases and to provide a way to consolidate resources on campus.
Hupperich said the members of the program, Sexual Assault Victim Advocates, or SAVAs, are trained in a session where officers from LSU Police, the Rape Crisis Center and other organizations involved in dealing with sexual assault cases speak to SAVAs. Through this group training, SAVAs learn to address these problems consistently, no matter what their background training or departments on campus are.
“Students were receiving inconsistent information and resources, depending on who they spoke with to help them take care of themselves,” Hupperich said. “SAVA helps identify key people on campus who can provide these students with a consistent standard of care. SAVA members also are advocates to help them navigate the judicial and medical system.”
Amber Vlasnik, director of the Women’s Center and a SAVA, said sexual assault evokes a “very different reaction” than other crimes.
“Sometimes people ask ‘Was it assault?’ and [they] are unsure,” Vlasnik said. “And male victim assault tends to go unreported.”
“There is a huge need for these services,” Cavender said. “[SAVAs] wear a lot of different hats.”
Vlasnik said SAVAs help students on several levels, by guiding them through completing police reports, medical examinations and the judicial process, if they want to report the incident.
“We are not licensed counselors, but we do provide a listening ear and ask the person how they want to proceed,” Cavender said. “The listening ear is important, but also the educated ear.”