Recently, the IU Student Association created a plan to eliminate psychological service fees for students who have been sexually assaulted. This proposal has been long overdue in the eyes of many students at IU.
Sexual assault isn’t something to be taken lightly, and when someone has experienced that type of distress, they deserve whatever help they need.
Counseling and Psychological Services is open to waiving off these fees, although there will need to be another source for the psychiatrists’ incomes.
Part of this money will end up coming from a portion of the students’ tuition, and hopefully the other part will be from the Dean of Students. Currently, the Dean of Students’ office focuses heavily on prevention, which is fantastic.
Unfortunately at IU, not all sexual assault can be prevented. The ?accountability is far too high and there’s likely to be a situation that slips through the cracks. This is why more funding should be granted to organizations like CAPS to ensure free services in order to tend to sexual assault issues that arise on campus.
When looking at sexual assault, ?attention needs to be on not only preventative measures, but on current cases, as well.
At college, we physically distance ourselves from our family. Although we’re geographically far apart from those we hold closest, a strange bond forms when you can’t hug your mom everyday or get a pat on the back from your dad when he gets home ?from work.
There’s no longer yelling about pointless arguments about the high school party you went to last Friday night. At college, you are your own individual, and you should be allowed to make your own choices.
But the one thing most of us don’t have under our belt is money. When the going gets tough, most of us turn to our parents to acquire funding for our extracurricular activities.
What we don’t want to ask them for is payment for psychiatric care after a sexual assault. Amongst other things, it’s embarrassing and could possibly change the relationship students have with their parents.
No kid wants to be seen as a burden to their parents. In students’ eyes, asking for money for a sexual assault counseling session says two things to their parents: one, write a check to erase all of my problems, and two, I don’t trust you enough to go to you in times of need.
The truth of the matter is that things do happen. It’s not enough to be preventative in stopping sexual assault from occurring. IU Student Association recognizes that a change needs to surface, and those who have been sexually mistreated need to be noticed and helped accordingly.
At the Editorial Board, we understand this is simply a step in the right direction. This isn’t the finish line — in the future, IUSA hopes to address the fees of other programs and departments.
The kinds of issues CAPS deals with are the heart of the problems our campus faces — sexual assault, depression and mental health. It’s high time we put these concerns at the forefront of development at IU.
The elimination of fees for sexual assault victims at CAPS will be the catalyst for change. All services should be free, and no students should be suffering ?because they cannot afford to seek help.
