In response to comments made by Chancellor Mark Wrighton, frustrated student leaders have committed themselves to working with the administration to work toward hiring a sexual assault coordinator.

In response to a question from Lauren Bernstein, senior and president of the University’s Sexual Assault and Rape Action Hotline (SARAH), Wrighton said, “A lot of people write unanimous resolutions and we look at them seriously.”

Wrighton spoke and answered student questions at the Chancellor’s Forum with student leaders last week.

According to the Student Union (SU) Web site, last year, the senate passed only two resolutions.

Unanimous resolutions have been approved by the SU senate and endorsed by the SU executive without veto.

Rebecca Forman, sophomore and Student Union secretary, noticed that many students were unhappy with what the Chancellor said about the prospect of hiring a sexual assault coordinator.

“I was disheartened to see that his response upset so many students,” said Forman. “It was upsetting to see that he didn’t really address an issue that students were passionate about.”

Forman added that she was troubled by the fact that the Chancellor did not seem to take the unanimous resolution seriously.

“The problem is when we send out a resolution it is really supposed to hold so much weight, so it’s really strange that it sort of didn’t in this case,” said Forman. “When a resolution comes out, inadvertently that’s the voice of the student body because they are the elected members of the student government.”

The four campus groups who are in favor of the University hiring a sexual assault coordinator-SARAH, One in Four, Committee on Sexual Assault (COSA) and Uncle Joe’s-will be meeting today to discuss how to push this issue forward.

“We want to get organized and we really want to present this issue in a really unified, cogent way so that the University can understand why student body needs this,” said Bernstein.

According to Carson Smith, speaker of the senate, SU plans to help students groups with their quest for a sexual assault coordinator in any way possible.

SARAH is scheduled to go before SU on Wednesday, October 31.

“Once I hear from COSA and we decide how we would like to continue to collaborate, we are planning on having them come back in the Senate to answer more questions and to give us a better idea of ways that we can help and then we will take the project from there,” said Smith.

At the forum, the Chancellor said that if the recommendations of all resolutions were enacted next year’s tuition could rise as much as 20 percent.

“We need to ask ourselves, ‘Where do we want to make investments?’” said Wrighton.

According to Bernstein, the Chancellor’s comment represents a challenge for the resolution’s supporters to more clearly articulate why this position is a worthwhile investment.

“There are so many ways the issue affects the University-legally, campus police, education, counseling,” said Bernstein. “I think this position would strengthen our university. While I understand that we have don’t have unlimited resources, I think this position is important.”

Bernstein said that she felt optimistic after hearing the responses of other students who attended the forum.

“A resounding number of people came up to me after the forum and told me this is something they think we need,” said Bernstein.

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