By Tatiana H Moore

As the Lumberjack Weekend kickoff event began in the SAC Quad at Cal Poly Humboldt on Oct. 8, a group of concerned students simultaneously gathered to stand in solidarity with the National Day of Action Against Sexual Violence.

CPH’s response to a recently reported sexual assault on Aug. 29 at Hinarr Hu Moulik (HHM) East dorms brought outrage after numerous news outlets across the state reported on the arrest of Delos Moore.

This all comes amidst growing national scrutiny surrounding universities’ responses to sexual violence. With universities’ current handling of allegations, people are calling for institutional accountability. The Cornell Seven case is but one of many high-profile instances where men alleged to have committed sexual violence were allowed to continue their education with the privilege of privacy.

Katerina Gaines, wildlife ecology student and organizer of the gathering, called on university administration to do more in addressing the recent public campus safety concern.

“We’re concerned because the perpetrator of sexual assault at the HHM dorms is now back on campus, there’s been no communication from the school regarding this, no clear outline on how they’re keeping students safe,” Gaines said. “We’re here because we deserve a safe campus. And we want perpetrators to be expelled from the school.”

Chelsey Castiglione with Student Health and Wellbeing Services was in attendance to offer support and resources.

“We want to support our students who are protesting,” Castiglione said. “And we want them to know this is the avenue where they can have a voice.”

Castiglione was providing information about related existing programs at CPH, including the Act to End Sexualized Violence course and Check It.

“Act to End Sexualized Violence is a class that myself and Dr. Schnurer do every semester,” Castiglione said. “It is all about advocacy and action surrounding sexual assault prevention.”

Castiglione emphasized the power that student advocacy and activism has had on the campus in the past.

“That class came out of a student protest back in the day, it came out of students saying, why don’t we have a class on this?” Castiglione said. “Our Check It program also came out of student advocacy saying, what is going on with this? We need to have a program on campus, and their advocacy is what pushed it stateside.”

While these resources provide students with support and community, they aren’t answering the questions that students are asking. Confidentiality requirements limit what university officials can disclose about individual cases, but students feel this is a matter of safety.

“We just have to trust what they say,” Sid Spahn, a biochemistry student said.

“That makes me feel uncomfortable because the only information I have about Delos Moore is that he sexually assaulted somebody and falsely imprisoned them,” Spahn said. “The fact that the administration, all they have to say, is trust us, we dealt with it. I don’t trust them and I think that they aren’t doing anything to actually protect people on campus.”

Title IX has no public registry, unlike criminal sex offenders who are mandated to report to a central public database. Students who have been disciplined under a school’s Title IX process are protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

Nicki Viso, deputy Title IX coordinator, was also in attendance Oct. 8th. Stuck between respecting students’ privacy and students’ desire for information, Visoi was unable to provide students with any new information.

“I don’t have a satisfactory answer. We can point you towards publicly available information,” Visoi said. “Outside of those sources, as far as what is contained in an arrest report, what’s contained in the Title IX report, that’s information that we’re not really able to share as our office or as a campus.”

This is not a Humboldt issue alone; this is just yet another case of people feeling that their university is systematically protecting perpetrators of sexual violence. To address students’ concerns, a town hall meeting will be held in Siemens Hall on Oct. 14.

Tatiana is a reporter. Contact at thm18@humboldt.edu