FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office to Host
Symposium on Campus Sexual Assault
Partnership with Brooklyn Campuses, Community Based Organizations and
Law Enforcement to Address Sexual Violence on College Campuses
Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that he will hold a symposium on Campus Sexual Assault, the first annual conference as part of the Campus Sexual Assault Response Initiative spearheaded by the Brooklyn DA’s Office. The day-long event will include speakers, a Title IX panel, a performance, a resource fair and workshops to address causes and solutions of sexual violence on campus. It will be held at Brooklyn College, at 2900 Bedford Avenue, on Friday, October 27, 2017 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said, “Now more than ever, it is critical for us to confront the plague of sexual violence and discuss ways to uproot it from society. During the symposium on Friday, participants will engage on issues relating to Title IX, reporting of sexual violence, bystander intervention, working with LGBTQ survivors, among other important topics. It is all part of our ongoing commitment to raise awareness of and take action to combat sexual violence.”
Headlining the event is keynote speaker Bea Hanson, former Deputy Director of the U.S. Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women and Director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence. The keynote will be followed by a facilitated discussion of emerging issues under Title IX, featuring a Title IX coordinator, a respondent attorney, a complainant attorney, a student conduct professional, and a New York State Police campus assault investigator.
Following the morning program, resource fair, performance and lunch, members of the Brooklyn Sexual Assault Task Force will host breakout workshop sessions. Topics will include: the role of the Sexual Assault Response Team (i.e. medical professionals), barriers to reporting sexual violence, working with LGBTQ survivors, nonconsensual pornography and tech abuse, bystander engagement skills among other topics relevant to addressing sexual violence on campuses.
The event is the first in an ongoing series that is planned for different campuses in Brooklyn. It is part of a comprehensive initiative, announced this spring, in which the DA’s Office and 14 higher education institutions throughout Brooklyn partner to improve a coordinated response to campus sexual assaults, enhance reporting and investigation while ensuring an appropriate, comprehensive response. The initiative’s task force works to connect every campus survivor to the comprehensive services of the Office’s Victim Services Unit, even in cases which do not result in a criminal prosecution. The DA’s Office believes that early access to complete services will enhance the investigative process while minimizing any additional trauma from involvement with the criminal justice system and ensuring that victims are fully and accurately informed as early as possible.
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