LISA DE CLERCQ
Stellenbosch Womxn’s Coalition held a meeting on Thursday 20 September to inform students of their aim to change Stellenbosch University’s (SU) policy on sexual violence.
According to Inge Odendaal, Political Sciences Honors student and part of Stellenbosch Womxn’s Coalition, the meeting, which was held in the Arts and Social Sciences Building, was called to explain what Stellenbosch Womxn’s Coalition (SWC) is and to start a dialogue about sexual violence at SU.
“We want to tell people that the policy we currently have is not suited to e ectively eradicate sexual violence on our campus…our main goal is to get a separate sexual violence policy” Odendaal said.
The policy which deals with sexual assault at SU is the Policy on Unfair Discrimination and Harassment (2016). According to a Stellenbosch Womxn’s Coalition Information Document which can be found on their Facebook Page (Stellies Womxn’s Coalition), SWC sees this policy as a “fruit salad” policy because it is too broad as it deals with all forms of discrimination.
“The same policy used to deal with a racist remark is not suited to deal with rape” Odendaal said. This information can also be found in the Stellenbosch Womxn’s Coalition’s Information Document. An anonymous survey, ‘Share Your Experience’, where people can share their stories about sexual violence anonymously, is also available on SWC’s Facebook Page.
“The policy says the basics, the addendum is the implementation plan” said Monica du Toit from the Transformation O ce,
Jaco Scribanté, HK from Vesta PSO, expressed his agreement of the importance of creating awareness of sexual violence and said that if SWC works with the HK this can be achieved. “Changing university policy is a different issue altogether” he said.
PHOTO: Supplied
