The SGA appointed new members and a director and deputy director of the new sexual misconduct prevention committee during the first meeting of the 2016-17 legislative session Wednesday night.
Taylor Aguiar, a sophomore neurobiology and physiology major, will serve as the committee’s first director, and Sarah Barreca, a junior English and secondary education major, will be the deputy director.
The Student Government Association created the sexual misconduct prevention committee during its omnibus session April 27. The committee will include the director, deputy director, a member of the SGA legislature or cabinet, at least two University Senate members, at least one Panhellenic Association representative, at least one Interfraternity Council representative and one Residence Hall Association representative, as well as at least five at-large student representatives.
The University of Maryland expelled a record three students for sexual assaults between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015, according to Civil Rights and Sexual Misconduct office data. It received 112 reports of sexual misconduct during this period.
Though this number seems high, it should not be considered an accurate representation of the number of instances of sexual misconduct that occur on college campuses every year, Aguiar said. More than 90 percent of victims of sexual assaults on college campuses do not report it, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
“I think that’s lowballing it,” Aguiar said. “My hope is to see the number of reports more accurately portrayed.”
Aguiar will meet with other universities starting this summer to develop a plan for moving forward with sexual misconduct prevention at this university, she said. She and Barreca will also attend freshman orientation sessions at this university to evaluate the policies already in place to combat sexual misconduct.
“I’m really excited for Taylor to take this on,” SGA President Katherine Swanson said. “I think that she possesses the knowledge necessary for this position.”
A.J. Pruitt, the SGA student affairs vice president who sponsored legislation to create the committee in March, said the committee will bring together different student organizations and connect them to resources that exist on the campus to educate people about sexual misconduct.
“I think there’s a misconception around campus that money is everything and that money is the only resource [these student groups] need,” Pruitt said.
The SGA also appointed 22 new members to its cabinet and governance board during Wednesday’s meeting. The organization elected sophomore history major and former Speaker Pro Tempore Chris Ricigliano as the new speaker of the legislature. Sophomore government and politics major Cassidy Chassagne will replace Ricigliano as speaker pro tempore.
