Campus, News

CGSA sets meeting with President Brown, Parker

Members of Boston University’s Center for Gender, Sexuality and Activism secured a meeting with BU President Robert Brown to discuss administrative repercussion to recent sexual assaults, according to a press release.

Brown will meet with members of the Center on March 19 to discuss three goals the CGSA introduced in a Feb. 23 press release. A BU spokesman was unavailable for comment at this time, the press release stated.

“Our goal is to work with the administration to make students feel safe on campus and create a culture that understands what sexual assault is and how to prevent it,” said CGSA spokeswoman Michelle Weiser, a College of Communication senior.

CGSA members met with Director of Student Health Services David McBride Friday morning, according to the press release. Men’s hockey coach Jack Parker  agreed to a meeting, though no date has been set at this time.

Weiser said that the center has short-term demands as well as a larger goal of getting a crisis center on campus.

“Things need to be happening right now to prove that the administration is dedicated to its students safety,” she said.

Since the second alleged assault by a hockey player this season, Feb. 19 by then-junior defenseman Max Nicastro, the CGSA has led efforts to address “rape culture” at BU.

In the press release from Feb. 23 the members called for a full-time sexual assault counselor, mandatory training by the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center for community leaders and a zero-tolerance policy for sexual assault on campus.

McBride stated in the latest press release that he “personally supports” the CGSA’s goals to allot more staff and resources to the issues of sexual violence on campus.

”More dedicated professional and student time is needed in order to achieve both adequate response and prevention outcomes,” he said. “SHS is not able to do as much as I would like with our current staffing pattern.”

Margaret Ross, director of behavioral medicine at SHS, noted the importance of examining how safe students feel on campus and why.

“The most important concern is that every student should feel safe and cared for,” Ross said. “Anything that interferes with that is something BU needs to address actively. It’s not just ‘boys will be boys.’ That’s not okay at this university. It should never be okay.”

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One Comment

  1. Prof. Ross nailed it. What happened is not okay, and everybody involved with the men’s hockey team needs to be addressed.