On Feb. 13, the university president’s Chief of Staff, Justin Pope, the Title IX advisory group, student activists and Centra Southside Community Hospital’s Diane Riley met for an open discussion on how to better address the accommodations for sexual assault victims in the Longwood and Farmville community.
Pope opened the meeting by stating that, “The main reason we are here is that Centra expressed some frustration that they couldn’t explain some of the nuances” regarding the petition during a first meeting last fall.
Riley first clarified that Centra’s “sexual assault policy is broad,” considered especially in light of “a forensic standpoint.” Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners deal only with sexual abuse, whereas forensic examiners handle all abuse cases, according to Riley.
“[Victims] deserve someone with a forensic background,” said Riley. As stated previously, Centra believed that the issue is quality of care. Anybody can deliver a rape kit, but who can follow through on behalf of the victim with the evidence through the justice system?
Riley further elaborated that although there is the “inconvenience of having to travel to a trauma center in Lynchburg” based on the current protocol, the number of abuse victims who have travelled to Lynchburg for the services of the five forensic examiners there totaled 205 in 2013. There were only nine victims from Farmville who sought the same service at Lynchburg.
“There are only 500 hospitals in the U.S. that have forensic programs....We are not any different from any other college town [hospital facility],” said Riley.
In response to Riley’s elaborations, a series of hard questions followed. Pope asked, “Why is this more tenable than having a nurse drive here?” citing an idea suggested at the end of the first meeting.
According to Riley, each of the five nurses in Lynchburg can see up to 25 abuse victims per day. “It’s not a cost issue...it just wouldn’t make sense to take care away from a high volume area. We have four hospitals in a region the size of New Jersey. The question then becomes where might our specialized staff be best utilized?”
Victoria Walker, a member of the Title IX advisory committee, commented on “the humiliation of being in an alien environment” and suggested the need for the procedure of transport to be more explicit.
Dr. Robert Marmostein questioned the absence of data regarding victims from Farmville who may have turned down the free transport service to Lynchburg in contrast with the report of nine victims who were transported as cited by Riley.
To a similar point, Dr. Virginia Beard of Criminal Justice stressed the need for scientific data, “What is the scientific protocol for testifying credibility?”
Longwood Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Tim Pierson, spoke to the group’s many questions, “Our number [of sexual assaults] have blown up from reports following Title IX....We are different from other towns, hosting two colleges and having a population that is two-thirds female...I do think this is the heart of it.”
According to Riley, “Nothing is off the table...we are constantly reevaluating our procedures.”
A follow-up meeting has not yet been set.
