SGA House discussions on sticter sanctions for sexual violence tabled for another week
SAGE protests across campus Tuesday raised awareness about sexual assault issues on campus by delivering an open letter to President George Ross.
The letter was not the only penned protest on Central Michigan University's campus this week.
The resolution to support stricter sanctions for sexual violence on Campus, penned by Student Government Association member Brynn McDonnell, was introduced for the second time into the House of Representatives after undergoing changes. The draft introduced featured many more statistics than the prior bill, focusing on additional rape that could statistically occur if rapists were allowed back on campus.
“Whereas current Central Michigan University policy requires suspension for students found responsible for rape with penetration,” the resolution reads. “Be it resolved the student body of Central Michigan University supports the administrative change in sexual assault policy from suspension to expulsion by the Student Code of Conduct Panel for students found responsible for sexual assault with penetration.”
As it stands, the bill has not been passed in its entirety. At Monday’s SGA meeting, the resolution was met with overwhelming support, passing in the Senate after additional amendments were added. In the House, the bill was tabled for another day after members of the House disagreed with the gendered language within the resolution feeling that males were implicitly targeted as rapists as a result.
Crystal Pendergrass, co-president of the Governmental Affairs committee, pointed out that although it is not as prominent, males can be raped too and that certain amendments within the resolution could alienate male victims.
“I still feel like this piece of legislation is still targeting just men,” Clark said during the house meeting. “The fact that it says ‘80% of rapists use alcohol or drugs to incapacitate women,’ I still feel like that’s just men targeted.”
The statistic in question used in the amendment comes from the 12 year old research paper Alcohol-Related Sexual Assault: A Common Problem Among College Students, published by Antonia Abbey.
SGA President Chuck Mahone ensured that the bill would be passed within the next two weeks or so, once an Ad Hoc committee was established. The committee would help to iron out any sort of complications within the legislation and to make sure that the resolution was easy to understand for all.
As of now, the resolution has been tabled until a later date.
