BRANDON—The Student Services department at Brandon University has instituted a new policy that protects students by requiring them to sign a non-disclosure agreement prior to calling for aid while they are being sexually assaulted.
The policy has been instituted as a follow-up to the University’s “behavioral contract,” a document which students reporting campus assaults are required to sign that prohibits them from needlessly complicating proceedings by discussing their attacks with unrelated parties such as loved ones, police, or a rape crisis centre.
“At Brandon University, we understand that sexual assault is a growing issue on university campuses,” said Tom Brophy, associate vice-president of student services at the University. “With this policy we hope to prevent students from perpetuating a cycle of victimization by subjecting innocent Universities to intrusive, undignified inquiries into the intimate details of their sexual assault response procedures.”
To begin the process, a student who is being or fears they are about to be sexually assaulted can print off an easy-to-access form available as a PDF on the Student Services website. After agreeing to refrain from making erroneous or true damaging statements regarding the University or its students in relation to the alleged in-progress assault and uploading the document to the student portal, the student may scream for help provided they do so in a manner which a reasonable person would consider appropriate to the circumstances.
The form must also be witnessed by the assaulter to ensure that the victim isn’t just making things up for attention.
Students using campus “blue light” emergency response phones will provide students with on-the-spot assistance by connecting them to a university lawyer, PR representative, and transcriptionist.
The University is also taking advantage of new digital tools to combat assault, and has introduced a new app that permits students to contact campus security regarding an impending assault so long as they promise to contact literally no other person. After logging in with their student ID, the student will being prompted to agree to a pop-up indicating that they understand that under no circumstances will they mention the phrase “Brandon University” the same sentence as the phrase “sexual assault,” “lifelong trauma” or “pathetically inadequate institutional support.”
At press time, Brandon University wishes to add that the student portal will not be operational on May 5th from 6 AM to 8 AM, so anyone who is sexually assaulted at that time is out of luck.
