In light of recent events regarding York’s Sexual Assault Policy as well as an open letter bravely written by a survivor named Mandi Gray, SASSL would like to be accountable to our community and to those we serve. For more context, please read the following article and letter:
http://www.cbc.ca/…/york-university-fails-to-support-sex-as…
http://www.academia.edu/…/An_Open_Letter_to_York_University…
SASSL is committed to being accountable to survivors and providing as much support as necessary. However it is important for SASSL as a service and organization that we would like to acknowledge that SASSL was not available to Mandi when she called and that our services were not enough to cover her needs at said particular time. We would like to sincerely apologize for this, but most of all SASSL would like to move forward towards improving our services for all survivors who call our support line, and who reach out to SASSL through stopping by our office and attending events. We would also like to clarify that as a student-run organization, SASSL is always open for suggestions, and critiques to better our accountability and services to student and other community members within York University.
SASSL also realizes that the lack of support given to Mandi and other survivors is illustrative of a broader systemic issue which seeks to silence survivors. As part of SASSL’s mandate and continual efforts to eradicate gender-based and sexual violence, we urge the current development of the sexual assault procedures can take into consideration the negative experiences and systemic-based concerns that Mandi has shared.
Please note, SASSL is also looking to expand our services in the future, by going through the York Referendum Process and hope that our future improvements as an organization can also expand our services to support folks who may experience sexual and gender-based violence at individual, social and systemic levels.
Mandi has also started a Change.org petition, that we urge you all to sign. It includes her suggestions for changes that need to be made for the development of York procedures in connection to this policy. We recognize that while there was the recent release of Sexual Assault Awareness Prevention and Response Policy, the procedures and protocols are still in the stages of development and while work is currently being done by the university, we hope that this petition can provide additional input into what practices students would like to see. Mandi’s suggestions and the voices of other survivors should be taken into consideration in the continuing process.
https://www.change.org/p/york-university-create-effective-p…