Three women accuse SFU student of sexual assault

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BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – RCMP have confirmed they are investigating three cases of sexual assault on the Simon Fraser University Burnaby campus.

Three women have come forward accusing a male student of sexual assault.

Kurt Heinrich with SFU said the women reported the attacks between January and May this year but did not give specific dates about when they reportedly took place.

“What we can say is that the safety of our students has been and remains our number one priority,” Heinrich said. “As soon as the University personnel became aware of these allegations, the University took action to support the students concerned without interfering with the police investigation.”

He said the man accused is no longer on campus, but wouldn’t say if that means he has graduated, was expelled or wasn’t attending summer classes.

The school is working on sexual violence and misconduct guidelines after the province made it mandatory for every university to have a policy.

Groups such as the Gender Sexuality and Women’s Studies Student Union (GSWSSU) have been pushing for clearer policies and more resources.

“Now that this report has come out and this is going to be a topic of conversation all over SFU and for people, I just hope people wake up and realize we have to stop not believing that this is a problem,” former GSWSSU president Caroline Doerksen says.

GSWSSU approached the university around six months ago, but had a cool reception with students and staff, Doerksen said.

“They asked for a lot of statistics and evidence, and we definitely had that, but for some reason people kept wanting more and more and now I just shake my head because this is a problem, we know it’s a problem,” she said.

The SFU Women’s Centre currently helps refer students to outside resources but hope to create a gender-inclusive policy and support centre so both men and women feel safe and get the help they need.

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