Victims of crimes are not alone on campus due to University of Tampa’s Victim Advocacy Program. The program provides assistance to students in the event of a crime or other troubling circumstance.
Monnie Wertz, assistant to the vice president of operations and planning, is in charge of the Victim Advocacy hotline at UT. “The hotline is not just for victims of sexual assault,” said Wertz. “We are open to any victim of a violent crime.”
For example, a few years ago several UT students were physically assaulted, according to Wertz. Staff affiliated with the Victim Advocacy Program worked with the students to help them navigate the criminal justice system and connected them with campus counseling services.
“If a student is a victim of a sexual assault, they can report it to Campus Safety, Residence Life, the Dean of Students office, the Victim Advocates hotline, any faculty or staff member or the counseling center,” said Dean of Students Stephanie Russell Krebs. She said the Victim Advocacy Program decides what actions need to be taken once a student reports an incident to an advocate.
According to Krebs, the advocate helps the student through the whole procedure, whether measures will be taken through the Office of Student Conduct, an outside police report or through UT counseling. “The victim advocate provides all the resources and options and it is the victim that decides which course of action makes them the most comfortable,” she said.
There are no statistics on the number of calls the hotline receives, according to Wertz. She said there are a variety of calls from victims, friends of victims and individuals who need general resource information about the hotline.
“Our intention is not to re-victimize students by forcing them through mandatory procedures, but to empower them by allowing them to choose their own options when and if they are ready to do so,” said Wertz. An advocate may be contacted every day, at all hours, during the academic year at 813-257-3900.
Victim Advocacy also had a booth at the Transfer Student Resource Fair at the start of the year. “We were included in the mandatory safety presentation for first-year orientation and we are working with the sexual assault/relationship violence peer educator in the Wellness Program to provide more proactive and prevention programming,” said Wertz.
In addition to the advocacy program, there are a wide variety of educational awareness programs related to sexual violence at the university. “We have a new Wellness Coordinator, Charlotte Petonic, that works specifically on these programs as well as other wellness initiatives such as programming and prevention efforts,” said Krebs.
In general, Wertz wants more students to actively use the hotline in case of emergencies.
Most student are not aware of the hotline, but expressed support for it when informed about its purpose. “I have never personally been a victim of a crime, but I know a couple people who have been victims both on and off campus. I do feel safe on campus but regardless, no one, male or female, should ever walk around alone at night because you never know. I have never heard of the hotline, but if I was ever a victim or a witness I would absolutely use it,” said senior sports management Nicole Apicella.
Another student said she would mostly likely use the program when an incident occurs. “I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never had a reason to use it. If I ever have a reason to use it, I probably would. I definitely feel safe on campus,” said senior international and cultural studies major Sierra Collazo.
Senior psychology major Carissa Palmiotto feels safe on campus but is willing to use the hotline when necessary.
“I’ve never heard of the hotline. I think that campus safety is good on campus. And I would definitely use the hotline,” she said.
Yasi Sherbaf can be reached at Yasaman.Sherbaf@theminaretonline.com.