Staff, students condemn SFU secrecy over sexual assault allegations

A day after three separate sexual assault accusations against a Simon Fraser University student came to light, questions are being raised about the university’s response and its seeming lack of public notice to students. 

The assault allegations — by three female students within the past six months — came as a shock to many students at the Burnaby Mountain campus. 

Lucky Cheema at SFU’s Burnaby campus.

“It makes me question how safe the university is, and makes me wonder what the school is doing to prevent this again in the future,” Lucky Cheema, a third-year business student, said Tuesday. 

According to sources, one attack allegedly occurred in October; the second, off-campus during the Christmas break. No details are available about the third incident. 

The man and at least two of the women lived in the same residence. The first two complainants dropped out of university, including one because she did not feel safe on campus.

Artem Gromov at SFU’s Burnaby campus.

Artem Gromov, a second-year business student, lives on campus and hasn’t heard a whiff of the allegations or the investigation from the school, which he believes should keep students in the loop.

“It is the duty of the school to tell university students there are those things happening and some people might be endangered,” he said.  

SFU’s Teaching Support Staff Union said it was concerned about the administration’s response to The Vancouver Sun article about the assault allegations. 

“There’s a lot of anger and upset” on campus,” said chief steward Derek Sahota. “The response (to the story) was really upsetting. It makes no sense to me that (the administration) don’t get out ahead of this and be proactive.” 

Kurt Heinrich, SFU’s director of communications, said Tuesday that the requirement to issue a campus-wide warning is based on whether there is a risk of continued harm. That’s based on an assessment conducted with the involvement of police and service agencies whom the school works with to determine “the risk and assess requirement to report,” he wrote in an email.

Heinrich was unable to say whether a safety warning was issued in response to the three sexual assault cases. He said the school acted immediately upon learning of the reported assaults and conducted a safety assessment with the RCMP.

“I think our key message, our most important message to students and our campus community is that the safety or our students is our No. 1 priority here,” he said. “And while cases like these are very complex, we are working very hard to ensure both our students that are impacted are supported and also that all of our students are kept safe.”

Related

• Daphne Bramham: Did SFU fumble reports of rape by male student?
• UBC warns students after man attempts to break into residence lounge

The RCMP said Tuesday it has no information to indicate the alleged assaults were random attacks committed by a stranger.

The RCMP investigation comes at a time of increased scrutiny as to how B.C.’s post-secondary institutions handle sexual-assault cases. Last year, UBC came under fire after it was revealed the school had taken an unreasonable amount of time to address a string of allegations of sexual assaults against a male student, who, like the suspect in the SFU case, lived on campus and was accused of targeting several female students.

In May, the government passed legislation requiring all universities to draft and implement clear, stand-alone policies around sexual misconduct by May 2017. UBC has already released a draft of its policy, which will still subject to scrutiny from the board of governors and feedback from students, faculty and community members.

While SFU has not released a draft of its own policy, the school has held a public meeting and received written submissions as to what the policy should include, according to the school’s website. Meanwhile, the school has a patchwork of existing policies that address issues of sexual assault, harassment, good conduct, and violence and threatening behaviour. One of the policies details how students can be evicted from a residence for sexual assault.

The suspect in the SFU assault allegations was eventually moved to another residence after several complaints from friends of one of the complainants, who lived in the same residence. His current status, including whether he has been suspended, remains unknown. The school has said he is not currently at the Burnaby campus.

chchan@postmedia.com

colivier@postmedia.com