IUSA hopes to aid rape fund

After a vast decline in student donations to the Rape Crisis Fund, the IU Student Association announced the formation of a task force Friday that could decide to pull the fund's money away from Middle Way House, the recipient of the donations for nearly 20 years.\nIUSA has given the funds to Middle Way House, a domestic violence and rape crisis center in Bloomington, since the late 1980s to support the salary of Crisis Intervention Services Coordinator Colleen Yeakle, whose duties include training rape victim advocates and answering the rape crisis hotline.\nA loss of Middle Way House funding would "hurt us terribly," Middle Way House Executive Director Toby Strout said.\n"It would be deeply distressing to me if IUSA, representing the student body, decided not to have the students contribute to the cost of those services, but it will not change our commitment to providing them," Strout said.\nStrout said if IUSA pulled the money, Middle Way House would continue the services provided by the Rape Crisis fund.\nShe also voiced concern because she said she's confused as to whether the task force will review the funding decline or Middle Way's efforts as an organization.\nDonations to the fund have declined from $27,500 in 2002 to less than $12,000 in 2005, according to a handout distributed at a meeting IUSA organized Friday. The fund receives money when students register for classes and place a checkmark in the box to donate to the fund. The donation is charged to their bursar account, and the money is put aside for IUSA to send to Middle Way House, said Lindsay Kerrigan, IUSA director of women's affairs. Despite advertising efforts and an "unprecedented" amount of money spent by IUSA to promote the fund, it has not seen a reverse in the trend, Kerrigan said.\n"We've decided to issue a review to pinpoint why so many students no longer feel compelled to donate," she said. "...We're reviewing every aspect of the fund."\nBy reviewing the fund and asking tough questions of student organizations and Middle Way House, the task force will look at how well the fund matches current social trends, IUSA Vice President Andrew Lauck said.\n"Obviously IUSA is committed to this cause, and obviously, we really do think that Middle Way House provides a lot of strong services," he said. "If we didn't ask those kinds of questions, we'd be doing a disservice to the cause."\nFriends of Middle Way House is another organization that has campaigned to promote donations with its Register Against Rape campaign, IUSA Chief of Internal Affairs Julie Aud said.\n"They've been doing a great job, which is why it's pretty disappointing to see the fund not meeting the level we'd like to see," she said.\nBecause of the decline in funds, the meeting was held Friday morning to discuss how a review of the fund will be implemented immediately, Kerrigan said. IUSA is looking for nominations of members to join a task force that will review the fund with thorough research and determine where the money is best given, Kerrigan said.\n"It's really important to IUSA that we have a balanced group and continue to look at the fund objectively," Kerrigan said.\nIUSA hopes to see other student organizations, agencies, professors and professionals in the field become a part of the task force to review the rape crisis fund, Aud said.\n"We (also) think it's really important to have members of the task force who aren't very aware of the issues who can kind of come up with an unbiased opinion and learn throughout the process," she said.\nThe fund rarely exceeds the support needed for the coordinator's salary, in which case the money is then applied to "materials for campus distribution," Strout said in a handout distributed at the meeting. Strout said she wonders why people don't want to fund salaries for those working in social services.\n"That's what social services are -- people helping people," Strout said. "You begin to wonder how would they like to contribute. ... How would these services be supplied if there wasn't a person to supply them?"\nKerrigan's main concern is making sure students know the fund is created to benefit students as much as possible, and she wants their input in making sure the money goes to the right place, she said.\n"Check the box," she said. "The most important thing they can do is check that box during registration and show the community that it is a pressing issue and is still an important issue to students"