Students say U. slow to back victim services

Several students pushing for more extensive services for victims of crimes said last week they are not satisfied with the administration's response to their demands. Members of the informal group, made up of members of Students Together Against Acquaintance Rape, the Undergraduate Assembly and graduate student government, said the administration is dragging its heels by constantly rehashing the issue in committees. The group met last month with President Sheldon Hackney and Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson in an attempt to accelerate improvements in the victim support services program. They asked for increased administrative support and increased funding for the Women's Center, health education and University Police's Victim Support Services. They also requested that the administration rework the University policies on sexual assault and judicial recourse, saying current procedures are "not sensitive" or "cohesive." A few of the students who met with Hackney and Morrisson belong to a committee Morrisson and Senior Vice President Marna Whittington established last fall to discuss these issues. These students told Hackney and Morrisson the committee was making little progress. But both Hackney and Morrisson referred their complaints right back to this "working group." "The problems keep escalating and all the administration keeps doing is waiting," said STAAR's Anne Siegle, a College senior. Siegle said yesterday that several students plan to increase University-wide awareness about the problems this week by handing out flyers, hanging banners and passing around a petition. She said she hopes to make administrators aware that victim support affects many people. Siegle added that the students will continue to take "political action" this semester. Other students said the administration's reaction to the latest demands is typical of how the University has handled the issue in the past. They said three separate committees in the past three years have studied the issue and have all reached similar conclusions. Arts and Sciences graduate student A.T. Miller, a representative to the University Council's Student Affairs Committee, said University Council commissioned a report on victim services in 1987. Last fall, Miller said, the Student Affairs Committee also studied the matter. Last spring, STAAR submitted a report to the administration demanding immediate action on the issues. The only result of these demands was the formation of the "working group," students said. "The people on the Student Affairs Committee were upset that the administration's reaction to our report was to have another committee look into it," Miller said. Miller said his committee's report asked for "exactly the same thing" as the other groups.

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