In the early 90’s York’s Sexual Harassment Education and Complaint Centre identified a critical need to establish better emergency support for survivors of sexual assault on campus. SASSL was subsequently founded in 1995 with the help of York University administration. For the first few years, SASSL received monetary support from the Campus Safety for Women grant, the Work Study program, and the Graduate Assistant program.
Over the last 20 years we have welcomed more than 350 student volunteers and staff members with a wide range of academic backgrounds and lived experience. We continue to collaborate with both community and campus organizations to support, empower, and prioritize the needs of survivors.
In 1999, SASSL was recognized as an important resource on campus by York undergraduate students who voted in favour of implementing a $2.10 tuition levy. The same levy still exists and is currently distributed across a full course load of 30 credits (which works out to 5, 3.0 credits, courses per semester) . Per every three-credit undergraduate course, $0.21 is donated to the operation of SASSL on an opt-able basis. That means that most undergraduate students pay 7 cents per credit, with some exceptions. For more information check our Levy Opt-Out page.
SASSL also continues to receive support from the Campus Women Safety Committee grant. With the Committees generous support SASSL is able to continuously host self-defense courses for York community members, host bi-annual volunteer training, and host annual open submission arts and poetry events for survivors, and organize support circles for survivors. (HeART).
Unfortunately, our funding model currently prevents us from accepting any monetary donations. We thank everyone who has sent us donation cheques over the years, we cannot however deposit them.