We Are Committed To:
- Believing and respecting members of the community who have experienced sexual misconduct and violence. We believe that you are the best judge of your own interests.
- Holding individuals who have committed an act of sexual misconduct accountable by taking disciplinary action — up to and including expulsion or dismissal.
- Establishing and following a formal procedure for responding to incidents of sexual misconduct.
- Engaging in public education and prevention activities.
- Ensuring referrals and services are available to survivors.
- Ensuring procedural fairness and/or due process to all affected parties in cases of alleged sexual misconduct.
University of Windsor's Policy on Sexual Misconduct
The University of Windsor is committed to doing all it can to provide a safe environment within which to study, work, and pursue social and personal interests. Up until recently, the University has had policies and bylaws that articulate our objectives regarding a safe environment, and that have included in their scope all forms of academic and non-academic misconduct, workplace harassment and human rights violations. The University of Windsor has now adopted a stand-alone Policy on Sexual Misconduct. The University will review this policy at least once every three years and amend it as appropriate.
Feedback will be sought through:
- Focus group with, at minimum, invitations to student leaders, including presidents of the Windsor University Students’ Alliance, the Graduate Students Society, the Organization of Part-time Students, the International Student Society, and the Windsor Inter-Residence Council, and with mentors from Student Peer Support, the Bystander Initiative, and Turtle Island.
- A direct invitation to students to provide feedback, in confidence, to the Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response Officer.
- An online survey, which will assess familiarity with the policy (to determine whether more promotion/education is needed) and invite any other feedback.
Our Sexual Misconduct Policy will be reviewed every three years. Feedback from the following sources will be used to inform the review:
- Invitations to participate in focus groups will be extended to—at minimum—student leaders, including the president of the International Student Society, the president of the Windsor Inter-Residence Council, mentors from Student Peer Support, and representatives from the Bystander Initiative, and Turtle Island.
- Students will be invited to provide feedback, in confidence, to the Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response Officer.
- An online survey will be used to assess familiarity with the policy (i.e., to determine whether more promotion/education is needed) and to invite feedback.
Student Voices on Sexual Violence Survey
The University of Windsor has just received data from the Student Voices on Sexual Violence Survey. The survey was conducted in late 2018, and institutions across the province were provided with a preliminary summary of the results in Winter 2019. We are grateful to now be able to review the data from our institution in more depth.
A preliminary review of the data indicates that overall the University of Windsor was comparable to other universities across the province on each of the evaluated metrics, which included students’ personal experiences with sexual violence, as well as their views on consent, their perceptions of peer norms, their knowledge of support services on campus, and their perspectives on institutional responses to sexual violence.
On certain measures, the University of Windsor was above average in positive terms for the sector. Students reported greater attendance at bystander intervention programming and more course content dedicated to sexual violence. Students also reported more awareness of institutional supports available to them. The University had scores slightly below average on measures pertaining to students’ knowledge of consent and their awareness of potential accommodations available to those who have been harmed by sexual violence.
This data affirms the investment we have made in bystander education over the last decade, and guides us to other areas for further growth and education. The University of Windsor has been a leader in sexual violence prevention and resistance education for more than a decade and will we will continue to invest in and respond to the needs of our community. We have also completed a review of our sexual misconduct policy within the last year, and have formed a task force to assess all endeavors related to sexual violence on campus. Our response to sexual violence must involve continuing reflection and refinement, and we will draw upon many sources of information. We feel fortunate that moving forward we can now include this data as a resource.
Questions about the University of Windsor’s response to the survey data can be directed to the Sexual Misconduct Response and Prevention Office.
To view the data that COU has released from the Student Voices on Sexual Violence Climate Survey visit: https://ontariosuniversities.ca/student-voices-on-sexual-violence-survey