By Stephanie Menders | Staff Writer
On Tuesday morning, April 19th, 120 full-time professors representing each department on campus received an email from a group of students who identified themselves as “The Sisterhood.” The group gave permission to the Mosaic to publish the email in full here:
“We are writing to you to express our concerns that some of the core values of the Mercy Mission of Salve Regina University are not being upheld. As you are aware, the mission of Salve Regina University seeks to promote “a world that is harmonious, just, and merciful,” in accordance with the traditions of the Sisters of Mercy. For those of you that may not be aware, two of the five critical concerns of the Sisters of Mercy are non-violence and women. We have seen that the university has failed to live up to these concerns with regard to its handling of sexual violence against female students. While we applaud the university for expanding its sexual misconduct and domestic violence policies in recent years, we criticize its failure to create full-time, on-campus positions for trained sexual assault and domestic violence advocates. As one in five women are sexually assaulted each calendar year, this means that approximately 386 female Salve Regina students, or at least one woman per day, will be assaulted in the next academic school year. This is simply unacceptable at a Mercy institution. In keeping with the Mercy tradition, we demand that Friday, April 22 be designated a teach-in day regarding women’s issues. We ask that all full-time and adjunct professors devote your Friday classes to fostering discussions of issues related to women. Should you not feel confident in doing this, we will provide you with materials for reference during the classes. Should you not have classes on Friday, we demand that you partake in our forthcoming panel discussion, workshops, and information tables regarding women. We thank you for your support in promoting the Mercy Mission through your actions.”
As stated above, the group takes issue with the university’s handling of sexual assault, and makes two main demands in response. The first is for the university to hire full-time, on-campus, trained sexual assault and domestic violence advocates. The second is that professors dedicate their Friday, April 22nd classes to teaching two of the five critical concerns of the Sisters of Mercy: non-violence and women’s rights.
The email was sent through a member of the Sisterhood, senior Ariana Caputo’s official Salve Regina University email account. “I have had a decent amount of responses,” says Caputo. “There was one bad one, but the rest are more supportive to varying degrees.”
The group formed as a response to the handling of a recently reported sexual assault on campus. In their email, the Sisterhood recognizes the university’s recent changes to the Sexual Misconduct Policy, but maintains that more improvements must be made. The official policy, which begins with the statement, “Salve Regina University’s policies emanate from the University’s Catholic identity and Mercy Mission,” can be read in full here: http://www.salve.edu/sites/default/files/filesfield/documents/sexual_misconduct_policy.pdf
Stay tuned to SRU Mosaic for further coverage on this developing story.
