The University of Iowa President’s Student Advisory Committee on Sexual Misconduct held its inaugural meeting with President Sally Mason and other campus officials this morning, receiving its charge, selecting leaders, and setting goals for future meetings.

The advisory group was one of Mason’s priorities when she unveiled her Six Point Plan to Combat Sexual Assault in February (see president.uiowa.edu/six-point-plan). The 14 student members were selected from among 175 applicants.

The committee’s objectives are to:

• Advise the president of the impact of policies and practices related to the prevention of and response to sexual misconduct affecting students.
• Solicit input from a broad range of students to inform the committee’s advice to the president.
• Monitor progress on university plans and commitments in the domain of sexual misconduct.

Meetings will be held regularly during the academic year and other times when called by the president or requested by a majority of the committee.

“This group will be very valuable in helping to improve communication with students, letting them know what the university is doing to address sexual misconduct while providing a means for direct student input,” said Georgina Dodge, UI Title IX Coordinator and meeting moderator. “As thought leaders who are involved in many different aspects of campus life, the group will help us connect with a wide range of students.”

Undergraduate student members are Joshua Abdo, Maddie Bro, Deeksha Chada, Mary Heer, Ashley Jenkins, Grant Laverty, Xingchen Li, Nealy Wooldridge, and Carter Bell (also representing UI Student Government). Graduate student members are Patrick Galligan, Jarvis McCowin, Elizabeth Rook, Alexis Steele, and Kira Pasquesi (also representing Graduate and Professional Student Government).

During today’s meeting, the group elected as chair and vice chair, respectively, Laverty, a student in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Pasquesi, a student in the UI College of Education. The pair will help lead future meetings of the committee, as well as attend meetings of the UI Anti-Violence Coalition.

As a member of a fraternity, Laverty said he feels it’s important to be part of the process of identifying solutions to the problem of sexual assault. He said the advisory group hopes to build on the momentum following Mason’s listening post in February and “keep the ball rolling on discourse” about this subject.

Pasquesi said she hopes to bring her perspective as a former undergraduate student and current graduate student to the conversation to “help create a campus environment where all people can thrive.”

In addition to Mason and Dodge, UI administrators who participated in the hour-long meeting this morning included Tom Rocklin, vice president for student life; Monique DiCarlo, UI sexual assault response coordinator; David Grady, dean of students; and Jennifer Modestou, director of equal opportunity and diversity.