By Nessa Sari-Masur. SEP. 05, 2017
President Dr. Vistasp Karbhari has announced plans to form an elite sexual assault prevention task force. According to Jean Hood, the Vice President for Human Resources and University Title IX Coordinator, as many as 50 new employees may need to be hired to staff the task force. This is a strong response to recent campus life issues that threaten UTA’s dedication to “creating and maintaining an environment … devoid of sexual and relationship violence.”
“The idea is to have a large number of people on standby, ready to assist those in danger of sexual assault,” Hood said. “A typical weekday may only require a task force of 10 individuals to ensure safety, but for weekends and days with scheduled fraternity events, the administration expects that a task force of 50 highly trained individuals will be necessary.”
This flurry of activity is in response to the recent events of 2016 Bid Day, which saw unprecedented levels of fraternity misconduct. Bid Day is the culmination of the Rush Week festival where susceptible freshmen pledge themselves to the organization of their choice. And although fraternity Bid Day has since been banned from campus, students and administration remain apprehensive of upcoming Rush Week proceedings.
“Given the events of last fall, the university encourages students to mark themselves “safe” following visits to Greek Row Events,” Hood informed The Catch. “When it comes to Rush Week, we want students to know that there is no such thing as being too careful.”
The Catch 