The Fort Lewis College campus offers many resources to help students of all identities and backgrounds feel comfortable, safe and included on campus.
Minority students who are struggling with feeling safe or comfortable on campus, can look to programs such as the Native American Center, El Centro de Muchos Colores and the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center to find a place of comfort on campus.
In order to make minority students feel safe when reporting sexual assault, the Title IX coordinator ensures that there is gender equality and that reports of sexual assault are handled correctly and not ignored regardless of the race or sexual orientation of the offender or the victim.
Title IX
Title IX is a federal law that says schools may not discriminate based on gender. This law also requires that schools take action anytime there is a report of sexual assault, Molly Wieser said.
Wieser is the Title IX coordinator for FLC. A Title IX coordinator ensures complaints are handled correctly, Wieser said.
Students who have been sexually assaulted can meet with the Title IX coordinator to decide what the next step is to make them feel safe on campus, Wieser said.
Faculty and staff are mandated reporters who report sexual assault to Wieser at the Title IX office, she said.
Students are not pressured into giving more information than they are willing to give, she said.
The ratio of students to staff and faculty is favorable for the FLC campus, Wieser said. It is more likely that students will find someone they feel comfortable reporting discomfort and/or sexual assault to.
Resources for Minority Students
The NAC, El Centro and the GSRC are now part of a diversity collaborative, Nancy Stoffer, coordinator of Diversity Programming at FLC, said.
This collaborative aims to give students a comfortable atmosphere by providing them with centralized spaces where they can feel at home on campus, Stoffer said.
The GSRC offers a way for students on campus to be exposed to and understand students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and students who are questioning their sexuality, Brandon Castle, a junior at FLC and an intern at the GSRC, said.
Many faculty and staff members have gone through Safe Zone training, where they have been trained to be allies for the LGBTQ community, Stoffer said.
A Safe Zone sticker on someone’s door or in their office means they have been through Safe Zone training, she said.
Any student on campus can take advantage of the NAC as well as the resources they offer, Rebecca Ray, a work-study student at the NAC, said.
They provide activities which share Native American culture. For example, they taught interested students to make fry bread, she said.
For Native American students, the NAC works to make campus feel like home by putting on social events like pow wows, Ray said.
“It gives a feel of back home,” she said.
Ray also appreciates the free calculator and textbook loans provided by the NAC and the free breakfast during midterms and finals, she said.
El Centro is place on campus geared toward Hispanic students and making them feel like they have a place to feel at home on campus, Christina Stoll, a senior at FLC and an intern for El Centro, said.
“We do all sorts of things,” Stoll said. “The breakfast burrito sales are really fun.”
Stoll, who also works as a tutor and translator with the organization, is involved with El Centro because she gets to teach others about Hispanic culture and hear from those from different heritages as well, she said.
Though El Centro appeals to Hispanic students, they aim to reach out to students from all backgrounds and celebrate diversity, she said. They teach Hispanic culture and pride to all students.
Tutoring for students and a translator for Spanish speaking students are also provided through El Centro, Stoll said.
Having these resources allows students to find someone they can feel comfortable talking to, Stoffer said.
This collaborative also accounts for an overlap in student identity, she said.
For example, if a transgender student who is feeling uncomfortable because of something that occurred in class or with a classmate wants to meet with Stoffer to resolve the situation, going to the Office of Diversity Programming could be helpful, she said.
“However, that student might be Native and might not feel comfortable talking to me,” Stoffer said. “Knowing that there is someone in the NAC that is also Native and is also open to that individual being trans, there is a wider group of people to talk to that you might feel safe with.”
Along with Safe Zone training, Common Ground training is also offered to faculty and staff, Stoffer said.
Common Ground training is offered twice per year, once in fall and once in spring. This training is open to faculty, staff and students, Stoffer said.
“Common Ground helps facilitate conversations around bias, privilege, identity and multicultural appreciation through interactive activities,” she said.
The housing staff, residence hall directors and resident assistants receive continuous training in cultural awareness, Stoffer said.
Campus Police
Campus police go through training with the Title IX coordinator to learn about Title IX and how to handle rape complaints as a first responder, as well as from an investigative standpoint, Wieser said.
Campus police play a large role in the safety of students at FLC. Thus far, the campus police officers have not gone through the Safe Zone training, nor the Common Ground training, Brett Deming, the chief of police for the FLC Police Department, said.
“If we can be fully staffed, and we have the full staffing and opportunity, then that would be an absolute goal of mine to get more officers to that training,” Deming said.
Campus police officers are required by the state of Colorado to go through Peace Officer Standards and Training. Though they have not been through Safe Zone or Common Ground training, anti-biased training on gender equality and multicultural diversity is required through POST, he said.
All of the current officers on campus are certified in crisis intervention. A pin on their uniform represents their participation in the training, Deming said.
The crisis training includes dealing with individuals in different crisis situations. For example, individuals that may be impaired or who are dealing with mental health issues, Matthew Dufva, FLC campus police corporal, said.
Being on patrol and walking through buildings on campus give the officers the opportunity to build relationships with students as the year progresses, Dufva said.
Campus officers have also gone through active shooter training. Neighboring law enforcement is involved with this training to ensure outside forces are familiar with the campus layout in case they are called to aid in an emergency situation, Deming said.
The main goal for the campus police department is to treat students fairly and equally, Deming said. The way they treat the people they come in contact with does not depend on the race of that person, it depends on the situation they are walking into.
In communities of color, there is a fear of how a situation is going to be handled. Some minority students may feel reluctant to report sexual assault or crimes in general because they are not sure how they will be treated, Wieser said.
“I think if you come in to the college at age 18 with the statistically likely experiences of people of color and LGBTQ youth, then you’re going to come in with a distrust of authority period,” Wieser said, “and do we address that? Do we change it? I feel like we try.”