NEWS

The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 11, 2005 - 3

ON CAMPUS
Romeo and Juliet
to be performed
at Mendelssohn
aThe University Department of The-
ater and Drama presents William
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet tonight
at 8 p.m. at the Lydia Mendelssohn The-
ater. Tickets are on sale for $9-20 in
person at the League Ticket Office or
purchased online.
For more information call 763-4726
or visit www.music.umich.edu. Other
performances this week are Saturday at
8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Speaker to talk
on environmental
contamination
Purdue University Prof. Suresh Rao
will speak in room 1200 of the Electri-
cal Engineering and Computer Science
Building at 4 p.m today. He will lecture
on performance assessment and deci-
sion making in regards to remediation
of contaminated sites.
The free event is sponsored in part
by the Office for the Vice President for
Research, Rackham, Civil and Environ-
mental Engineering Department and
Department of Geological Sciences.
Yale scholar to
give lecture on
Russian history
Laura Engelstein, a historian of mod-
ern Europe and history professor at Yale
University whose specialty is Russian
history, will give a talk titled Refusing
Gender and Refusing Time: A Rus-
sian Community that Made Archives
Instead of Children. The event will take
place today at noon in room 1014 of
Tisch Hall. There is no cost to attend.

SAPAC launches
new website for
assault victims

By Jacqueline E. Howard
Daily Staff Reporter

For many survivors of sexual assault,
reaching out for help is often embarrassing,
and they are traumatized that someone may
discover what they have experienced. But
now survivors can take the first step toward
getting help in the comfort of their homes
with a new website that aims to provide a
support system.
The University's Sexual Assault Pre-
vention and Awareness Center, Counsel-
ing and Psychological Services and the
Division of Student Affairs collaborated
to launch a website, survivor.umich.
edu, that not only offers information for
sexual assault victims but also for their
friends and family.
"The website is a good communication
resource" said Kelly Cichy, director of
SAPAC. "We want to provide informa-
tion to build a support system for a vic-
tim. So there are sections on the website
for not only victims but friends and fam-
ily members dealing with issues involv-
ing sexual assault as well."
Being a part of the "Take A Stand" cam-
paign, the website helps raise awareness of
sexual violence as an issue. Stephanie Pin-
der-Amaker, associate dean of students, said
the website helps to communicate to the
University community that there are many
resources available regarding the issue of
sexual violence.
"Most importantly, we wanted to elimi-
nate any confusion whatsoever about where
a survivor can go for help," Amaker said.

Cichy said one attractive aspect of the
website is that users will remain anony-
mous.
With confidentiality and availability both
being important factors, Lynn Rose, project
administrator of CAPS, said another motive
was to create "a website that would provide
instant information and crucial resources for
sexual assault survivors in the safety of their
own personal space no matter what time of
the day or night."
"We wanted to make it easier for the cam-
pus community to know about the available
resources and how to access them when
needed," Amaker said. "In that regard, the
site is a comprehensive University-wide
Web resource that doesn't focus on a single
office or unit."
Rose led the design of the site. She
worked with a design team of Technol-
ogy Services who helped her bring this
vision to fruition.
"I believe that all of us who were involved
have created a site that survivors and those
who love and care about them, will find the
help and resources they need to begin the
healing process," Rose said.
Along with using the site as a resource,
Cichy said sexual assault victims could also
visit SAPAC, the University Hospital or the
SAPAC hotline.
Todd Sevig, director of CAPS, said
the new site represents another step in the
enhancement of services provided to the
University around issues of sexual violence.
Survivors can call SAPAC at 998-9368,
CAPS at 764-8312 or the 24-hour crisis line
at 936-3333.


CRIME
NOTES
Laptop in Shapiro
Undergraduate
Library stolen
A caller reported Wednesday morning
that a laptop was stolen from the inside
of Shapiro Undergraduate Library, the
Department of Public Safety said. There
are currently no suspects.
Clothing taken
from University
Hospital
Articles of clothing were reported
stolen from inside the University Hospi-
tal Wednesday morning, DPS reported.
There are no suspects.
Parked vehicle
damaged on E.
University
A caller reported early Wednesday
morning that a vehicle was damaged
while it was parked on the 700 block
r of East University Avenue, DPS said.
There are currently no suspects.
THIS DAY
In Daily History
IRS audits 'U' as
part of national
I education study
Feb. 12, 1993 - The University
was selected along with seven other
schools to be audited by the Internal
Revenue Service as part of the first
Coordinated Examination Program in
the education field.
The purpose of the audit will be to
help the IRS ascertain if the regula-
tions regarding universities are fair and
up to date, Associate Vice President for
Finance Chandler Matthews said.
"Our impression is they feel they

RHA
Continued from page 1
safety also shows the undercover team
gaining access into what it claimed
was a Michigan State University
dorm, but shows the same footage of
South Quad, RHA said.
Channel 4 was not present at the
meeting where the resolution was
passed and could not be reached for
comment.
According to the 2003-04 Annual
Resident Satisfaction Survey, which
is issued by University Housing, 87.3
percent of students reported that they
feel safe inside and around residence
halls.
"We expect to see an increase in this
year's survey, due to the completion of
card locks on the doors and the cam-
eras being installed outside of dorms,"
said RHA President Amy Keller.
Keller said the report is not the
only misleading information being
provided by the station. She said
the statistics on its website are also
inaccurate. The program that aired
Monday emphasized the fact that 48
home invasions had occurred in the
residence halls during 2003. How-
ever, RHA took issue with the sta-
tistics because they contrast with
the University's system of organiz-
ing the data per academic year. The

statistics for the academic year show
that there were 35 home invasions in
the 2002-03 academic year, and 17
invasions in the 2003-04 academic
year, a decrease of over 50 percent.
The 2004-05 academic year has seen
four break-ins thus far.
During the second report, which
aired on Tuesday, Channel 4 claimed
that the University did not pay signifi-
cant attention to the report, stating that
the "U of M officials didn't offer any
specific security upgrades or changes
they plan on taking at this time."
Channel 4's statistics and reports
disregard steps taken by the Univer-
sity over the last two years to increase
security, Levy said.
Part of Housing's efforts, which
Levy said Channel 4 disregarded in
its report, is the fact that Housing has
spent over $4 million on equipment
upgrades directly related to student
safety in the residence halls during the
2003-04 academic year.
Levy said that over the past two
years the University has been striv-
ing to improve security in three main
areas: expanding equipment, staff and
community knowledge.
The decision to update safety equip-
ment was partially due to the figure
taken during the 2001-02 school year,
during which there were 99 cases of
home invasion, according to Univer-

sity Housing statistics. What the Uni-t
versity found was that 95 to 99 percentc
of these were due to unlocked student1
doors, so starting in 2002, the Uni-
versity installed over 6,000 electronicc
locks on every bathroom door andr
every dorm room door. The Univer-c
sity has also been installing security
cameras at every entrance to everyr
residence hall.t
The University has implemented ac
professionally trained housing securi-
ty force. These officers are not a police
agency, but are part of the Department
of Public Safety.
"Each residence hall has an officer
making rounds from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
who develops a relationship with the
housing community, and responds to

both emergency and nonemergency
calls," Levy said, "I am not aware of a
parallel nationally."
In addition to directly expanding
equipment and staff to improve secu-
rity, University Housing has made an
effort to be open to student opinion.
"Many times when RHA makes
recommendations to housing, we find
that housing is already in the process
of fixing them." Keller said.

University Housing has made sev-
eral attempts to make students more
aware about student safety issues
through outreach programs.
Part of RHA's resolution in response
to Channel 4's report allocated $1,000
to expand resident outreach efforts in
regards to Housing Security.
Channel 4's report said its reporters
would make an attempt to return to
the dorms later this month.

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