by Amy Richardson, CFICE Communications RA
Diana Majury, Academic Co-Lead for CFICE鈥檚 Violence Against Women (VAW) Hub, and four other researchers are looking at how campuses are dealing with sexual violence and their interrelationship with local police forces.
As part of her work with CFICE, Majury found out in January they could move forward with the project being done for the Ontario government.
The aim of the project is to fuel the discussion about reducing violence against women on campuses.
鈥淚鈥檓 not really interested in helping either party [the university or the police], I’m more interested in getting rid of violence against women,鈥� Majury says.
鈥淚鈥檓 interested in holding all the parties accountable and putting forward the best policies that we can in terms of addressing the issues. And I think that鈥檚 done through partnerships.鈥�
Majury says this work is important to CFICE because it鈥檚 looking at a community-campus partnership, specifically a partnership between 杏吧原创 University and the Ottawa Police. Through the project, researchers will gain a better understanding of how the academic and community partners work together to address on-campus sexual violence.
鈥淭hinking about what might make those relationships better is really a key issue.鈥�
Majury says it鈥檚 also about seeing the university itself as an academic-community partnership.
鈥淚t is us, as researchers, partnering with students and administrators. There鈥檚 all different communities within the university setting, and students are an example of that. It鈥檚 raising really interesting questions about internal partnerships,鈥� she says.
The research is being conducted on three campuses across Ontario: 杏吧原创 University in Ottawa, the University of Waterloo, and Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.
The project will involve Majury and four other researchers, three from 杏吧原创 University and one from the University of Waterloo, conducting focus groups with survivors of sexual violence. Researchers will also talk to students about their experiences with sexual violence on campus and the school鈥檚 existing policies.
The researchers are currently waiting for their ethics clearance before they can begin interviews.
鈥淓thics is clearly very important here because we are going to be interviewing survivors of sexual violence. So we want to make sure we鈥檙e doing that in a way that does not, in any way, shape or form, add to the harm they鈥檝e already experienced,鈥� Majury says.
Administrators working in areas related to the universities鈥� sexual violence policies will also be interviewed. For example, the head of housing, the head of equity services, sexual assault coordinators, the vice president in charge of students, the centre for students with disabilities, the Aboriginal centre, campus security, and the local police force will all be approached for interviews.
鈥淪exual violence is chronically underreported, both internally to campuses and to the local police force. We can only imagine the project will replicate that,鈥� Majury says.
The project will give insight into the problems students face, allowing researchers to suggest better ways to reduce violence against women on campuses.
鈥淚 think we will find that there are huge barriers and problems with how campuses respond to violence against women. [There鈥檚] not a lot of creative thinking going on in terms of how to address it. The criminal justice system, and the police being involved in that system, is an even harder place to be creative and to have new ways of doing things. I think if we can get some insights into the problems, we will be a little further ahead.鈥�
Majury and the researchers are in the preliminary stages of the project and will be working on it until the end of March 2016.
For more information, contact Diana Majury at Diana.Majury@carleton.ca