University of Regina president leads the push for new policy on sexual assault
Vianne Timmons, president of the University of Regina, was touched personally by the issue of sexual assault on campus when her daughter revealed that she had been attacked months previously. Timmons said, "She did not disclose [what had happened] to me until months later because she felt responsible; she felt that because she had been drinking and hadn't kept her wits about her that she somehow had been complicit in this whole happening."
The fact of the assault, and the fact that her daughter had waited so long to tell anyone what had happened, led Timmons to overhaul the way the University of Regina addresses sexual assault cases. With a survey of students, faculty, and staff, the university created a targeted strategy for dealing with perceptions of sexual assault. That strategy includes a new policy, a personal safety officer, and extensive training.
Listen to Timmons discuss this new model with Checkup host Duncan McCue.
Duncan McCue: What are some of the policies that the University of Regina is considering to handle sexual assaults on campus?
Vianne Timmons: We implemented a sexual assault and violence policy, and we also hired a personal safety officer to work with any student or faculty or staff that come forward. We also have done extensive training.
We have now just launched a survey to look at people's perceptions of sexual violence and sexual assault, so that we can then have even a more targeted training program.
We also have a project called Man Up which is a fabulous project that works with our young men on campus because as you know sexual assault is not a woman's issue; it is a society issue. So we have been working with our sports teams and young men on campus on this Man Up initiative.
So we've been working on this quite extensively for the last few years.
DM: I understand that some of these moves to draft policies in the university came after you learned that your daughter was a victim of sexual assault during her second year of university. Can you tell me a little bit more about what happened?
VT: My daughter was in her second year of university. She was drinking at a party and she ended up wanting to go home. An older student offered to walk her home, and she was quite drunk, and he ended up taking her to his apartment, where he sexually assaulted her. She did not disclose that to me until months later because she felt responsible; she felt that because she had been drinking and hadn't kept her wits about her that she somehow had been complicit in this whole happening.
So I was quite horrified. I have three daughters and one son and I believe I raised strong children who are able to take care of themselves and be safe. It was a wakeup call for me to recognize that our young women are vulnerable, and especially in a party situation.
DM: How was it for you as a president of a university and a mother to deal with that kind of situation?
VT: It was horrible. Still now when I speak about it, I get quite emotional. It was heartbreaking to me because my daughter did not report it because she was scared, and she was worried, and she was worried about backlash from her peer group.
DM: You have said that part of the policy initiatives that you're introducing involve data collection. When you announced that, you said that you don't think the current statistics are reliable. Why not?
VT: So in the last five years we've had 11 sexual assaults reported. But since we started the training, in the first six months of our training, we had two people come forward. I think there is a fear to report.
We're a campus of 15,000 students and in five years we've had 11 cases. It just doesn't seem accurate to me. We need to make sure that young women and men are safe to come forward; and our faculty and staff members are safe to come forward. So that's what we're building: what we call a "survivor approach."
DM: Why do you think that fear exists?
VT: Oh I think it exists for many reasons for young women. I think young women feel that they will lose face, that their friends will turn on them, and for many other reasons I think young women do not report.
I'm an older woman and even two years ago, I was at a function and I had an older gentleman who wasn't appropriately touching me and I was taken aback and not sure how to react. We were in a public place. I didn't want to embarrass him and yet, afterwards I was shocked at myself that I felt so unsure about how to maneuver through that situation. What can you imagine how a 19 year old feels?
DM: What did you end up doing in that situation?
VT: I ended up leaving. But in retrospect I should have said something clearly and set the boundaries. But I was taken by surprise. So this happens to women all the time and especially young women.
DM: What messages would you have for your fellow colleagues at other universities and college presidents across Canada?
VT: Well I would say to them that parents send their children to our campuses and our campuses need to be safe healthy places for our youth. We need to do everything in our power to make sure that they are.
This is a very important issue. It needs to be talked about. That's why I came forward about my daughter because often we don't speak about it because of shame or embarrassment. And my daughter gave me permission to do so, but we need to be talking about it as presidents and saying that this is not acceptable. That we would have zero tolerance for this and we need to ensure our young women are safe on our campus.
Vianne Timmons' and Duncan McCue's comments have been edited and condensed. This online segment was prepared by Ayesha Barmania.