2008 Woodie Awards
Victim advocate to get full-time staff
Jad Sleiman
Issue date: 3/12/08 Section: News
The University Health Center plans to cement a full-time staff for the Office of the Victim Advocate by next year, bolstering the university's service for victims of sexual assault after years of inconsistent funding.
The office, which now depends on sometimes unreliable grants from state and federal agencies, will received guaranteed university funding for the restructured staff, health center director Sacared Bodison said. Right now, the office has three part-time employees; it has never had a full-time employee.
The expansion comes amid a heightening demand for professional attention in the office, which saw a record-setting 83 victims last fall, more than double the number of students who sought help from the office last spring.
The rise of victims "did underscore the importance of providing more staffing stability and less grant dependence," Bodison said.
"Whatever it takes is what will be spent," Bodison said. A definite figure could not be given because future employee salaries have yet to be negotiated.
The office provides assistance to student victims of sexual assault, relationship violence and rape, especially throughout the judicial process.
With the new staff, Bodison said one person will help coordinate efforts between the university's multiple anti-sexual assault task forces and groups and ensure consistency within the office from year to year.
Bodison said the office's policies and procedures would largely stay the same. But it remains in the air whether any of the current staff will stay on in the newly restructured office because of the high turnover rate typically associated with graduate-assistant workers.
Two of the three graduate assistants now working won't return next fall, and it is unclear whether Cortney Fisher, the current head of the office, will still be at the office.
"I would like to see the OVA continue to grow and serve victims using new and innovative strategies," Fisher wrote in an e-mail.
The office, which now depends on sometimes unreliable grants from state and federal agencies, will received guaranteed university funding for the restructured staff, health center director Sacared Bodison said. Right now, the office has three part-time employees; it has never had a full-time employee.
The expansion comes amid a heightening demand for professional attention in the office, which saw a record-setting 83 victims last fall, more than double the number of students who sought help from the office last spring.
The rise of victims "did underscore the importance of providing more staffing stability and less grant dependence," Bodison said.
"Whatever it takes is what will be spent," Bodison said. A definite figure could not be given because future employee salaries have yet to be negotiated.
The office provides assistance to student victims of sexual assault, relationship violence and rape, especially throughout the judicial process.
With the new staff, Bodison said one person will help coordinate efforts between the university's multiple anti-sexual assault task forces and groups and ensure consistency within the office from year to year.
Bodison said the office's policies and procedures would largely stay the same. But it remains in the air whether any of the current staff will stay on in the newly restructured office because of the high turnover rate typically associated with graduate-assistant workers.
Two of the three graduate assistants now working won't return next fall, and it is unclear whether Cortney Fisher, the current head of the office, will still be at the office.
"I would like to see the OVA continue to grow and serve victims using new and innovative strategies," Fisher wrote in an e-mail.
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Jennifer Pollitt Hill
posted 3/12/08 @ 1:30 PM EST
As the Executive Director of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault we are thrilled to honor the Office of the Vicitm Advocate for excellence in victim services programming, but I have to say that we are very concerned about the future of the program. (Continued…)
Burke Miller
posted 3/17/08 @ 12:45 PM EST
These cuts do far more than concern me. The OVA has proven itself to be invaluable to the campus community through their service to clients and through the campus culture change they have initiated. (Continued…)
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