A victim of sexual assault might fear getting caught with an underage drinking citation, rather than worry about their safety. At Shippensburg University, students will not need to fret because the Council of Trustees approved an amnesty policy, along with other changes, in the Student Code and Conduct Process on March 27.

Victims of sexual assault or rape will be granted amnesty for violating rules related to the use of drugs and/or alcohol, the policy states.

This concept was already being acted upon at SU, but now that it is stated in the student code, it is considered official.

“One of the things that I’m really proud about what we do here is, we’ve always responded to sexual misconduct,” Roger Serr, vice president for student affairs, said.

When Serr started out as the dean of students almost 21 years ago, one of his first tasks was rewriting the Student Code and Conduct Process. Today, he is still involved in writing new changes for the code.

This semester, the Council of Trustees decided to update the document regarding sexual misconduct, at the suggestion of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which is run by the U.S. Department of Education.

“We were already responding, we just now are responding more within the framework as recommended by OCR,” Serr said.

In addition to officially adding the amnesty policy, there is a section in the code leading students to the Ship Says No More website. This is a comprehensive resource for students seeking information about sexual misconduct, rape, sexual assault and domestic violence.

“I think that No More website is just a great way to put forth our values, but more importantly, to centralize information,” Serr said.

Within the harassment section of the code, the council added “stalking” as unpermitted behavior.

If cases of harassment or sexual misconduct need to be brought before the dean of students for a hearing, modifications may be made to the hearing process in the best interest of the victim. For example, using Skype to conduct a hearing, so that the victim and the perpetrator are not in the same room together.

However, if the complainant or respondent — victim and perpetrator — fail to attend the student conduct hearing, the dean of students may choose to dismiss the case or proceed without them.

Although, they would first try to reschedule the hearing, Serr said.

Cases of sexual misconduct and the like will always be handled in a formal procedure.

These changes to the student code bring further clarification to the policies that SU was already acting upon. Several key people on campus were involved in making these adjustments, in addition to Serr.

Stephanie Erdice, director of the Women’s Center; Jeff Hawkins, university attorney; Dave Lovett, dean of students; and Janet McKeithan-Janifer, associate dean of students and non-traditional student services, all helped make changes to the Student Code and Conduct Process.

“We all come at it from different perspectives,” Serr said.

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