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Burnaby women stalked on campus have tools to help stop it: school

School responds to the concerns of some women who say they've been harassed on campus.
Chris Campbell
Chris Campbell
sfu
A woman walks along a path at the Simon Fraser University campus on Burnaby Mountain. (via Burnaby Now)

Simon Fraser University in Burnaby says there are valuable tools to help women who feel harassed and stalked on campus.

SFU Burnaby responded to a series of NOW articles in November, December 2021 and January 2022 about women who said they have dreaded a return to in-person classes due to the behaviour of some male students.

The students told the NOW that they were undecided about reporting incidents, or that these incidents might not qualify for school action.
“While students reporting incidents/concerns to the university helps to ensure that we are meeting the needs of the community in a holistic, trauma-informed and proactive manner, we also recognize that reporting is a personal choice,” said an email from SFU.

SFU asked the NOW to share some information for students about resources available to them:

  • “Campus Public Safety (CPS) is one of several offices on our three campuses committed to creating a safe, welcoming, respectful, and resilient community. CPS supports all SFU and Fraser International College (FIC) students, faculty, and staff, and is available to provide person-centred advice and response to reports of individuals feeling unsafe on our campuses.”
  • Consultation and personal safety planning is available to support both in-person and online safety concerns. Community members can contact [email protected] to reach out. CPS can also facilitate referrals to any other office at SFU, where appropriate and with the consent of the community member.
  • CPS is available 24/7 to provide on-demand SafeWalk to and from any location on any of our campuses. In Burnaby contact the CPS Non-Emergency Dispatch: 778.782.7991.
  • “Our Burnaby campus has over 100 locations of direct-dial Emergency Phones, including the outdoor Blue Phones and red emergency phones found throughout our buildings. In case of emergency, use the closest emergency phone and Campus Security will be notified of the location, and be able to dispatch an available CPS responder to the area immediately.”
  • The Sexual Violence Support & Prevention Office (SVSPO) offers free, confidential support for SFU and FIC students who have experienced sexual violence (which includes sexual assault, stalking, sexual harassment, indecent exposure, etc). They also assist students who have witnessed sexual violence or who are providing support to someone else. Students of all gender and sexual identities are welcome. The SVSPO is also the dedicated office responsible for the Active Bystander Network (ABN). ABN aims to raise awareness about sexual violence and create a culture of care and consent at SFU. In addition, the SVSPO offers educational workshops on a range of topics including Healthy Relationships and Boundaries, Practicing Consent, and Bystander Interventions.
  • SFU has a bullying and harassment policy, resources and a case manager to support members of the SFU community with dealing with inappropriate conduct or comments by a person towards a member of the University Community that the person knew or reasonably ought to have known would cause the member of the University Community to be humiliated or intimidated.

“The safety of our community is very important to SFU, and we want everyone to feel safe on our campuses,” said the email. “It's also important to note that compared to other years of primarily in-person campus education, SFU has not seen an increase in issues/reports about personal safety at Burnaby campus since the start of fall 2021 return-to-campus, nor an increase in requests for SafeWalk, personal safety consultation or safety planning, which would be indicators of a rise in this type of concerning behaviour.”