Confidentiality is important to the work of the University of Idaho Women’s Center.
“If people want to talk to us about sexual violence, it’s important they can feel they’re in a confidential space,” said Bekah MillerMacPhee, project director for the center’s violence against women grant.
MillerMacPhee took a newly created position to manage the funds of the OVW Grant awarded to the Women’s Center by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women last fall. Her previous position of program coordinator is open for the time being, but when it’s filled, the center will have four employees and only three offices. Earlier this month, the center began raising money to split one of its offices in two and has raised $2,705 toward its goal of $8,000.
Women’s Center staff are not mandatory reporters under Title IX, said Women’s Center Director Lysa Salsbury. She said the center is designated a semi-confidential space, meaning staff must only report data to comply with the Clery Act.
“We have to report how many assaults we get whether they happened on or off campus,” MillerMacPhee said. “I just fill out an online form. I don’t disclose when, where, who made the disclosure to me or any other specifics or identifying information.”
Salsbury said the other semi-confidential offices on campus are the Counseling and Testing Center, the Ombuds Office and the Student Health Clinic.
“Sometimes going through a formal process can be re-victimizing and traumatizing,” Salsbury said. “It’s important they make their own decisions.”
Salsbury said it is also important for each staff member to have a private space to work with people who need to talk about personal issues.
“It’s a resource people are using and it’s important people continue to,” MillerMacPhee said. “It’s less intimidating than counseling or calling a hotline. It’s more casual and inviting and it’s important we keep it that way.”
With the position of program coordinator open, Salsbury said she and the rest of the office have been splitting the work of the position while the office puts on fewer programs.
Salsbury said the program coordinator puts on events including LunaFest Women’s Film Festival, FEMFest, collaborative events, the Virginia Wolf Distinguished Service Awards and Women’s History Month.
Salsbury said the Justice Department grant, which amounts to nearly $300,000 is to develop culturally competent and community responsive prevention education programming and victim advocacy services.
“For a student from another country, there could be cultural messages they’ve received that private business is private and you don’t talk about that,” Salsbury said. “For our multicultural students, there’s often issues talking about sexual violence because they come from communities that don’t talk about sex.”
Salsbury said training the center’s staff to address specific issues people from certain communities face could increase how often people from those communities report.
Nishant Mohan can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NishantRMohan is important to the work of the University of Idaho Women’s Center.
“If people want to talk to us about sexual violence, it’s important they can feel they’re in a confidential space,” said Bekah MillerMacPhee, project director for the center’s violence against women grant.
MillerMacPhee took a newly created position to manage the funds of the OVW grant awarded to the Women’s Center by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Violence Against Women. The center received the grant last fall. Her previous position of program coordinator is open for the time being, but when it’s filled, the center will have four employees and only three offices. Earlier this month, the center began raising money to split one of its offices in two and has raised $2,705 toward its goal of $8,000.
Women’s Center staff are not mandatory reporters under Title IX, said Women’s Center Director Lysa Salsbury. She said the center is designated a semi-confidential space, meaning staff must only report data to comply with the Clery Act.
“We have to report how many assaults we get whether they happened on or off campus,” MillerMacPhee said. “I just fill out an online form. I don’t disclose when, where, who made the disclosure to me or any other specifics or identifying information.”
Salsbury said the other semi-confidential offices on campus are the Counseling and Testing Center, the Ombuds Office and Student Health Clinic.
“Sometimes going through a formal process can be re-victimizing and traumatizing,” Salsbury said. “It’s important they make their own decisions.”
Salsbury said it is also important for each staff member to have a private space to work with people who need to talk about personal issues.
“It’s a resource people are using and it’s important people continue to,” MillerMacPhee said. “It’s less intimidating than counseling or calling a hotline. It’s more casual and inviting and it’s important we keep it that way.”
With the position of program coordinator open, Salsbury said she and the rest of the office have been splitting the work of the position while the office puts on fewer programs.
Salsbury said the program coordinator puts on events including LunaFest Women’s Film Festival, FEMFest, collaborative events, the Virginia Wolf Distinguished Service Awards and Women’s History Month.
Salsbury said the Justice Department grant, which amounts to nearly $300,000 is to develop culturally competent and community responsive prevention education programming and victim advocacy services.
“For a student from another country, there could be cultural messages they’ve received that private business is private and you don’t talk about that,” Salsbury said. “For our multicultural students, there’s often issues talking about sexual violence because they come from communities that don’t talk about sex.”
Salsbury said training the center’s staff to address specific issues people from certain communities face could increase how often people from those communities report.
Nishant Mohan can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NishantRMohan iolence, it’s important they can feel they’re in a confidential space,” said Bekah MillerMacPhee, project director for the center’s violence against women grant.
MillerMacPhee took a newly created position to manage the funds of a grant from the Department of Justice the center received last fall. Her previous position of program coordinator is open for the time being, but when it’s filled, the center will have four employees and only three offices. Earlier this month, the center began raising money to split one of its offices in two and has raised $2,705 toward its goal of $8,000.
Women’s Center staff are not mandatory reporters under Title IX, said Women’s Center Director Lysa Salsbury. She said the center is designated a semi-confidential space, meaning staff must only report data to comply with the Clery Act.
“We have to report how many assaults we get whether they happened on or off campus,” MillerMacPhee said. “I just fill out an online form. I don’t disclose when, where, who made the disclosure to me or any other specifics or identifying information.”
Salsbury said the other semi-confidential offices on campus are the Counseling and Testing Center, the Ombuds Office and Student Health Clinic.
“Sometimes going through a formal process can be re-victimizing and traumatizing,” Salsbury said. “It’s important they make their own decisions.”
Salsbury said it is also important for each staff member to have a private space to work with people who need to talk about personal issues.
“It’s a resource people are using and it’s important people continue to,” MillerMacPhee said. “It’s less intimidating than counseling or calling a hotline. It’s more casual and inviting and it’s important we keep it that way.”
With the position of program coordinator open, Salsbury said she and the rest of the office have been splitting the work of the position while the office puts on fewer programs.
Salsbury said the program coordinator puts on events including LunaFest Women’s Film Festival, FEMFest, collaborative events, the Virginia Wolf Distinguished Service Awards and Women’s History Month.
Salsbury said the Justice Department grant is to develop culturally responsive prevention education programming and victim advocacy services.
“For a student from another country, there could be cultural messages they’ve received that private business is private and you don’t talk about that,” Salsbury said. “For our multicultural students, there’s often issues talking about sexual violence because they come from communities that don’t talk about sex.”
Salsbury said training the center’s staff to address specific issues people from certain communities face could increase how often people from those communities report.
Nishant Mohan can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NishantRMohan