Long Beach City College’s Title IX program is a force against sexual violence and police efforts are equally as strong in order to combat the growing issue of sexual harassment, assault, and violence.
Lt. Omar Martinez, LBCC representative of the Long Beach Police Department, spoke about what constitutes sexual harassment, and the involvement of campus police when investigating sexual violence crimes, during an interview on March 11.
“With sexual harassment, the person committing the crime is simply not respecting boundaries, be it a male and female, a teacher to student, student to teacher, or student to student,” said Martinez.
Martinez explained police become involved with cases reported at LBCC if they need to interject and talk to students in violation of student conduct code and assist subsequently.
“A high percentage of students understand to stop bothering someone else once they’re told by the police,” Martinez said.
However, sometimes sexual harassment and violence escalate.
The Clery statistics, an annual safety report of LBCC, indicated two cases of sexual battery in 2017, which according to Martinez, occurred at the PCC and included fondling over the victim’s clothes.
“At PCC, the campus is not as protected as LAC and because it’s across the street from a dense area, issues arise and it spills onto the campus,” said Martinez, explaining LAC is much safer because of its location and campus environment.
Even so, sexual harassment and abuse can occur at both campuses, and it’s the duty of the Title IX coordinators on campus to ensure the proper reporting, investigating, and overall handling of sexual violence cases.
Deputy coordinator Alisia Kirkwood and student conduct specialist Sylvia Garcia of the Title IX program, spoke about sexual violence education, resources and the role of the Title IX at LBCC during an interview on March 12.
“The main resources for victims include CARE services that redirect students through health and mental health services, the Title IX coordinator Dr. Kristin Olson, or the Title IX advocate Deborah-Miller Calvert,” Kirkwood said.
“Sometimes students aren’t ready to report publicly, but they want support for trauma, to ask questions, get options and they may not want to report because the person who did the assault is someone they know,” Kirkwood said.
In these instances, Kirkwood said that students can still make use of resources on campus for support, even if the assault happened outside the jurisdiction of LBCC, such as at a party or anywhere else off-campus.
“On and off-campus, we can still provide support, education and resources through multiple methods of dissemination,” Kirkwood said.
Garcia talked about the climate of sexual assault reporting on campus.
“Luckily there are no big cases of sexual assault on campus, but more people are inquiring, asking more questions and speaking up about abuse and defending themselves,” Garcia said.
According to Kirkwood, since the new deputy coordinator came into office, the Title IX program has done more to reach its goal of intervention, prevention, education, awareness and support for sexual violence, and have worked diligently to raise awareness.
Informed consent is one topic that the Title IX program is working to raise awareness of, as without it, incidents of sexual assault and harassment can arise.
“Informed and affirmative consent are necessary at every phase of a relationship,” Kirkwood said.
In addition, sexual violence prevention and education courses Garcia has worked to bring awareness to topics that need attention, according to Garcia.
These topics include red flags of abuse and healthy relationships, sexual assault 101 and what constitutes assault, and bystander intervention.
Events hosted during Women’s History Month and other times of the year, like Denim Day in April, raise awareness of human trafficking and additionally, events by the YWCA have been established to raise awareness on sexual violence, according to Garcia.
“We encourage these events, and there are now opportunities for student clubs to host their own event with a grant of up to $500. The goal is, we want students to feel empowered and have a voice,” Garcia said.
As for the Title IX program at LBCC, it is ever-evolving and improving according to Kirkwood.
According to Kirkwood, an effort to comply with federal mandates and be sure no one’s rights are violated, the Title IX office ensures it is following up with new changes in law and court proceedings.
“We now have concerns that deal with equity, fairness, and seeking legal counsel,” Kirkwood said.
Increased education on sexual violence and efforts to evolve the Title IX program are paying off, according to Kirkwood and Garcia.
“There is less tolerance for both sexual harassment and general harassment. People know their rights. We’re doing more reaching out, going into classrooms and club meetings,” said Kirkwood.
Changes to the reporting process for sexual harassment and violence have also been implemented.
In order to ensure every student speaks out, students can report a case of sexual harassment through the student conduct website, file an incident report form, and use that form to report an incident of sexual or domestic violence, or to file a CARE report for a student health concern.
Students can call the student affairs office or the student Title IX coordinator Kristin Olson directly.
“A trusted faculty member can be a good point of contact to begin the process, because they’re all mandated reporters too,” Garcia said.
“We need to recognize sexual harassment and domestic violence more than in the months of October and April because it doesn’t just happen then. Education is going to be year-round, to keep up momentum because the more students hear this information, the more they know, the more they speak out, report and seek help.”
According to Kirkwood, Garcia, and Martinez, the culture and awareness of sexual violence and harassment is now helping victims find their voice and helping students to recognize and report abuse.