Despite York having an extended policy on sexual assault, a recent Sexual Violence Prevention seminar by the Centre for Human Rights revealed there are still issues that need to be addressed to combat the sexual violence connotation infamously associated with York.
The seminar, held in Norman Bethune College last Wednesday, touched on topics such as campus safety, consent, rape culture, and York in the media.
“Students are avoiding classes in certain buildings, or in the basement of certain buildings, or avoiding night classes altogether, and it’s mostly women I hear this from,” says Krista Hunt, learning specialist and advisor of sexual harassment prevention at the Centre for Human Rights, and the speaker of last week’s seminar.
Unfortunately, the campus has been singled out in the media for being particularly unsafe, she adds.
In late 2014, the Toronto Star reported that only nine of 78 Canadian universities had special policies to address sexual assaults. At the time, York was not one of the nine universities.
By February 2015, the York University Policy on Sexual Assault Awareness, Prevention, and Response was developed.
York cites a long list of programs, policies, and initiatives.
Jenny Mao, Copy Editor
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