OPINION & EDITORIAL
Dean of Students office prioritizes safety
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Also by Lori Berquam, Dean of Students:
- Dean of Students office prioritizes safety (February 23, 2007)
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- Incident puts UW's dedication to safety in question (February 22, 2007)
- Dean of students calls for activism (September 21, 2007)
- A letter of thanks (December 5, 2007)
- Chime in, students (January 25, 2007)
- New dean needs new philosophy (January 22, 2002)
by Lori Berquam, Dean of Students
Friday, February 23, 2007
I would like to respond to Emily Friedman's Thursday column, "Incident puts UW's dedication to safety in question." Emily and I agree on more than we disagree, but there are several points I would like to call attention to.
First and foremost, the Offices of the Dean of Students (ODOS) and the UW-Madison administration has a strong commitment to keeping students safe during their time on campus and in our community. I could not agree more that we have to take allegations of sexual assault seriously and investigate them thoroughly, and that is exactly what we are doing. I agree that open discussion is preferable to keeping secrets; the exception being cases in which students' confidentiality must or should be protected.
I also agree that it is certainly problematic that a student can withdraw from UW-Madison without ever talking, in person, with an administrator. As we move more and more toward an electronic world, I believe we need to take a step back and think about what we're losing. One of my first priorities is to determine how we can work with our current system to ensure that human interaction is in the equation.
I most certainly agree that we would have hoped to — or should have — learned of this alleged assault long before the story aired as part of a Channel 27 newscast.
Over the past several years, the lines of communication between the Madison Police Department, the UW Police Department, and ODOS have improved dramatically; this incident clearly suggests that there is a need for continued improvement. The fact is that the police usually do inform us of incidents such as this, unless the alleged victim requests that they do not do so. I do not know the circumstances in this particular instance, but I can assure you that it will be part of our ongoing conversation with MPD.
I want to state unequivocally that we strongly encourage students who have been the victim of a sexual assault, or other crime, to make a report with our Student Advocacy and Judicial Affairs office by calling (608) 263-5700, visiting http://www.wisc.edu/students/ or coming to 75 Bascom Hall.
Our staff can discuss options for a disciplinary investigation, but will also advocate for students and connect them to resources on and off campus that will help support them through what is assuredly a most difficult time.
In addition, we are taking steps to proactively address some of these issues, rather than only reacting to them once they occur. The student organization alcohol policy discussion is one such example. As we continue to work with our Greek organizations and registered student organizations on alcohol policy, the safety of our university community continues to be of paramount concern.
Finally, I'd like to say that I appreciate the media coverage of what is a very serious and important issue. The university community needs to be aware of the occurrence of sexual assault and other violent crimes, and the news media does us all a service in keeping us aware of and engaged with the fact that campus safety is something that must involve us all.
Lori M. Berquam
Dean of Students
Anonymous (February 23, 2007 @ 8:52am):
"I would like to respond ..." It's funny how Lori Berquam starts this entire article with that statement. All the ODOS has done this entire year and a half is respond. There has been nothing proactive about their actions. Instead of prevention of assault, they respond to the incident after the damage is already done. That's probably the worst stance anyone administer can take on this campus regarding any issue. For example, look at how Lori Berquam refers to a student dropping out of school. "I also agree that it is certainly problematic that a student can withdraw from UW-Madison without ever talking, in person, to an administrator." She includes this because the topic was brought up into her Q & A session with the students for the DOS finalist position. Once again a response to a stimulus. Tell me if the DOS has ever had the student dropping idea part of their mission or objectives in the past year and half. Lori Berquam doesn't bring her true concerns, she just listens to everyone elses concerns and projects them to the public as her own so she seems intelligent or playing a "good leader." Don't get me wrong though ... responding to situations is good, but it's horrible if it happens all the time. Maybe Lori will hold a forum concerning the issues above because that's all she can and has done for the university. Talking does not equal acting and we have plenty of talking on this campus and very little acting. The only acting I see from the DOS is acting like a poser or pseudo-leader while the Provost and Chancellor tell the DOS what to do.
Anonymous (February 23, 2007 @ 10:07am):
The victim did specifically ask that the university not be involved so that this exact reaction would not occur...
Anonymous (February 23, 2007 @ 12:39pm):
8:52am, do you realize that like 3/4 of all administrative action in schools in reactionary to events? That is true at an elementary school, middle school, high school, and it is certainly true in college. Thus the ODOS mentality is understandable, but that makes it nonetheless problematic or concerning.
Your points are valid -- Barquam and her assistant deans need a more proactive approach so as to spend less of their overall time on the approximately 3/4 of tasks that are due to student violations, problems, issues, etc.
Still, I think Lori is doing an above average job. Certainly better than some of her most recent predecessors.
Anonymous (February 23, 2007 @ 1:37pm):
The entire DOS office is useless. There is no metaphor that sufficiently describes how detrimental Lori et al are to the university. To quote Bob and Bob from Office Space..."So what exactly do you DO here?"
Anonymous (February 23, 2007 @ 7:16pm):
Perhaps the ODOS should invest in computer chips to place in either our foreheads or right hands, so that if we leave or move they can monitor us. In fact they can put an Alcohol Blood level indicator so that all students will be able to be monitored under a new alcohol policy, which they should pass. Totalitarianism, the safest government known to mankind...
- Germain E. Stemme
Anonymous (February 23, 2007 @ 11:45pm):
Lori, please do more than a forum or summit. Find funds or grants and do something.
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