BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD)– LSU’s student government passed three bills on Wednesday night concerning sexual assault awareness.
The bills were expedited in light of a bombshell USA Today article reporting the university’s mishandled of numerous sexual assault and harassment cases.
Student Government Resolution 17 specifically addresses the USA Today report and urges the Student Government to “request LSU to make systemic changes to the procedures for handling sexual misconduct, sexual assault, sexual violence and rape.”
The bill addresses a “lack of awareness” by the University in handling the accusations.
SGR-17 allows the Student Government to request the following from the LSU administration:
-Stop allowing sexual misconduct and assault perpetrators to receive “deferred suspensions.”
-Release full campus police reports, without redacted names.
-Stop withholding police and Title IX records from victims who request a copy of their own files until the statute of limitation ends.
-Fire LSU officials and administration who repeatedly fail to report or mishandle sexual misconduct incidents.
-Work with BRPD and LSUPD to ensure perpetrators of sexual violence, sexual assault and rapists face criminal charges.
-Change policies that enable the protection of perpetrators instead of the victims.
-Make sure “no contact directives” are put into effect within a week of the incidents being reported.
Student Government resolution 17 passed unanimously.
Student Government Bill 22 addresses sexual assault, violence and mental health awareness within student organizations.
The bill urges student leaders to present a Student-Government-issued powerpoint to their organizations bringing awareness to the topics.
Bill 22 passed 17-8-11
Student Government Bill 15 creates guidelines for Student Government’s internal policy for harmful behavior.
The policy outlines how offensive behavior should be reported between Student Government members. It also encourages the integration of information about on and off campus resources for violence, sexual assault and other crisis situations.
Bill 15 passed with 37 votes.
“I was disgusted, I was so disappointed and sad, you know as a woman on this campus and as a woman who love this campus, I ran to represent students, it’s so disheartening to see,” Student Body Vice President Hannah Barrios said.
Student leaders say this is just the beginning of several initiatives to change the culture on campus.
“They have to make a change, they have to do something you know, they can give us statement and words but we have to see real action and reform on this campus to change the culture,” Barrios said.
