The AUSA Senate addressed the recent sexual assaults and the effects of those assaults on the community at its meeting last Tuesday.
Four DU women were accosted close to campus the weekend of Oct. 30- Nov. 1, and the suspect remains at large.
Gamma Phi Beta president Kat Cobb addressed the Senate with her distress over the lack of information about the assaults. She said that she was upset that there was a significant lag between the first assault on Saturday night and when fliers were posted on Monday evening.
Because of the lack of communication, she said, one of the women from her house was a victim early Monday morning. Cobb said that she wants to attack the problem and make sure that the Campus Safety emergency phones are in working order, as well as to focus on expanding DU Saferide and student escort services.
A composite image of the assailant was sent to all DU e-mail addresses by Campus Safety last Thursday.
Later in the meeting, Sen. Steve Forbes said that he went on a “safe walk” with Campus Safety two days before the first assault to make sure that the campus’ 75 emergency phones were working and to make sure the campus is adequately lit. The phones, he said, are checked by Campus Safety once a week.
“These are all valid concerns,” said Forbes. “But Campus Safety does work to make sure that [the campus is safe].” Sen. Molly Brown suggested that unifying the fragmented voices on campus might help ensure that every student has an opportunity to be a part of the pro-active solution.
“I think that students are upset and want to do something about it,” she said. “But everyone is forming small groups. Senate should form one committee with one voice as an avenue for [every student’s] voice to be heard.”
The Senate agreed to form a committee that would include students, prominent groups on campus and Campus Safety to look into a pro-active approach to dealing with the sexual assaults.
Fawntain Spencer approached the Senate with her concern that she had not yet received word about what they had done since the Oct. 19 meeting when she called for an investigation regarding student exclusion from the visit of Jenna and Barbara Bush. She said that she is looking to find out who sponsored the event and to understand why students were left out.
“I’m disappointed that our home source didn’t work,” she said. Spencer said she and her colleagues have called on the ACLU to help with the investigation.
Sen. Jaime Conry said that the Senate has taken preliminary steps into the inquiry, and is waiting to see who rented the room in Sturm Hall.
Warren Smith, Public Affairs Manager, said in an e-mail that “the Bush event was not a meeting of a government agency, open-meetings laws would open-meetings laws would not apply. It was just like any other private event, and the fact that DU provided facilities does not constitute an endorsement.”
In other business, Forbes said that the Academic Affairs Committee is looking to fill nine positions with students who are not senators. Students who are interested should e-mail Forbes at sforbes@du.edu.
Sen. Clark Cryer reported that he attended the “good neighbors meeting” on Oct. 26 and that the neighborhood community encourages students who live off-campus to go out, meet their neighbors and to get to know them.
Sen. Aaron Schwarzberg reported that the Diversity Committee held a meeting last week at which 13 new members joined and $2,900 was allocated to different campus groups. The Black Student Alliance received $1,000 to bring a speaker to campus, $900 was allocated to the Japanese Student Association to fund their events for the year and $1,000 was allocated to the Undergraduate Women’s Council.
