CALCASA Sponsors Student Participation in White House Task Force

February 21, 2014 |
Valor

This week, CALCASA had the unique experience of sponsoring a student advocate to participate in a meeting with the White House Task Force on Protecting Students from Sexual Assault. CALCASA nominated Sarah Yang, a senior at UC Davis, to participate in the session with other student activists from throughout the country.

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Sarah Yang, student advocate, with Lynn Rosenthal, White House Advisor on Violence Against Women.

On Tuesday, Sarah joined more than ten other students in sharing their thoughts, experiences, and programs on preventing sexual violence on their college and university campuses. With candor, these students offered ways to create more transparent and victim-centered approaches to crafting policies in addressing sexual violence on campuses. Sarah’s trip to Washington DC aligns with CALCASA’s statewide legislative policy priorities for this year, specifically SB 967, authored by Senator Kevin de Leon.
SB 967 will require California colleges and universities to address campus sexual violence by requiring them to adopt consistent victim-centered sexual assault response policies and protocols that follow best practices and professional standards. An important provision included in the proposed legislation highlights the need for campuses to develop comprehensive prevention programs. Awareness campaigns, risk reduction, primary prevention, bystander intervention, community engagement all should be part of a comprehensive approach to addressing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual violence, and stalking on campus.
Sarah Yang is a senior at UC Davis and the co-president of the Women’s Health Initiative on campus. She is actively engaged with sexual violence prevention agencies in Solano County. The Women’s Health Initiative will hold its second annual “Men’s March” in May; a program aimed to involve college-aged men in the dialogue about sexual violence prevention.