Canisius College Resource Guide

Katie Parker

Canisius College has a wide range of resources available on campus for survivors of sexual assault. You are not alone. There are students, faculty, counselors, and campus leaders who support you. Here’s where you can go:

The Health Center

If you’re worried about your physical health in any way, you can safely confide in the healthcare professionals at our on-campus health center about any of your concerns. They’ll either treat you or refer you to another healthcare provider, like Sister’s Hospital right around the corner where you can receive more care like a rape kit if you think that’s what is best for you.

The Health Center is located under Frisch Hall in the tunnels. You can schedule an appointment online through the myCanisius portal, or you can call 716-888-2610.

The Counseling Center

Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Survivors of sexual assault may struggle with anxiety, depression, or more mental and emotional issues related to trauma. Understandably so – there’s a lot to understand and process in the aftermath of sexual violence, and it’s a very emotional time. Canisius’ Counseling Center is full of caring, understanding and supportive counselors who are there to listen to you and guide you through your trying time. Talking to someone about your experience is one of the most important steps in healing from sexual assault, and the trained professionals in the Counseling Center are there to help you.

The Counseling Center also directs and facilitates sexual violence prevention programs on campus. The Sexual Violence Prevention team is made up of faculty, administration, and students alike across different demographic groups on campus – USA, ROTC, athletics and more. Step Up Griffs is a Peer Educator system, where any student can become trained in strategic ways to prevent sexual assault and provide training and discussion based learning about consent and how to “step up” on campus to prevent assault in the first place. If you’ve been assaulted, or feel confused about whether or not you were in a situation that constitutes an assault, members of these groups are available to have a conversation with you and provide you with access to more resources on campus.

Eileen Niland is the Director of the Counseling Center and works closely with the Title IX Coordinator, runs the Sexual Violence Prevention Team on campus, and coordinates Step Up Griffs. She is not only a fantastic counselor, but she has access to information about many more resources not only on campus but in the surrounding area. Her email is nilande@canisius.edu.

The Counseling Center is located on the first floor of Bosch – Bosch 105, and there is no swipe entry necessary during business hours. The Center offers walk-in hours, or you can stop in to make an appointment. You can also schedule an appointment over the phone by reaching the front desk at 716-888-2620

Callisto

Callisto is an amazing new reporting tool for survivors of sexual assault on campus. Many times, reporting your assault can be terrifying and emotional. Research shows that victims of sexual violence are significantly more likely to report their assault if their assailant has been reported previously. So, the developers of Callisto designed a tool for survivors to report in a more comfortable way. All online and discoverable through your myCanisius portal, you can use Callisto to anonymously report your assault on your own time. You can report immediately, or take your time, and you can submit a report on your own, or with the support of a friend – whatever works best for you. Your report is submitted anonymously, and read only by Canisius’ Title IX coordinator. You’ll only be contacted about your report if the name of the assailant you provide has also been reported by someone else. There’s strength in numbers, and Callisto makes the reporting process a lot less daunting for survivors.

If you have more questions about Callisto, the Counseling Center, Title IX coordinator, and student leaders are all trained on how the system works, or you can pull a slip off the flyers posted around campus.

Title IX

Title IX is a federal anti-discrimination mandate. Under this law, students are protected from discrimination on the basis of sex, which includes sexual misconduct. If you choose to report your assault to the school, Title IX is the civil rights law the school will reference in determining the nature of the assault and the guidelines to be followed in a procedural hearing to hold the accused accountable. A Title IX hearing at Canisius is not the same as a criminal trial, which would only take place if you so choose to report your assault to local authorities.

At Canisius, the Vice President of Student Affairs also acts as the school’s Title IX coordinator. That means that there’s an administrator on campus who is fully trained and knowledgeable of all of your rights under Title IX. He or she is here to ensure that anyone who reports an act of sexual violence is heard, and their report is handled appropriately by the school. They have the final say in the outcome of a judiciary hearing and will fight for your justice in accordance with your Title IX rights. The Title IX Coordinator is a mandated reporter – which means if he or she is told about an assault, they are mandated to report that it occurred, but not mandated to pursue a judiciary hearing on your behalf. This means that you can safely confide in the VPSA without necessarily pursuing action, but your report will be filed for the school’s record. Choosing to confide in the Title IX coordinator can be a helpful and strategic move while deciding what to do about having been assaulted because they will have all of the relevant information you might want to know about your rights and the process of pursuing judiciary action at school.

This year, our previous Vice President of Student Affairs/Title IX Coordinator Terri Mangione left Canisius. In her place, Anne-Marie Dobies is the acting interim VPSA/Title IX Coordinator. Ms. Dobies is an educated counselor and a wonderful resource for anyone seeking guidance in deciding how to handle a situation as serious and difficult as sexual assault. Her office is located in Old Main, and you can reach her office at 716-888-2130.

Public Safety

You can always, of course, call Public Safety directly to file a report about your assault. They will provide you with the access to any other resources you may need on campus, and support you while collecting information necessary to help you construct your report. Worth noting is the use of the blue-light system around campus. If you ever feel as though you are in an unsafe situation while walking outside on campus, there are multiple poles with bright blue lights on them that you can press so a Public Safety officer can come to you and get you out of an unsafe situation.

The Director of Public Safety is Kimberly Beaty. Their office is located in the tunnels under Bosch, and you can reach their office at 716-888-2330.

Student Life

The office of Student Life handles most student affairs, whether or not you live on campus. The staff, graduate students, and student leaders affiliated with Student Life (your class representatives on the Undergraduate Student Association or Resident Advisors for example) have been trained in sexual violence prevention and are familiar with more of our on-campus resources. Bear in mind that like many other offices, many of those who work with Student Life are also mandated reporters – which means they need to let the Title IX coordinator know that an assault has occurred. Someone who works in this office may be someone you know more personally through your residence hall or student organization, and the office is also involved in handling judiciary hearings wherein Canisius’ Community Standards have been violated, which includes instances of sexual violence.

The Office of Student Life is located in the tunnels under Dugan, and you can stop in any time to make an appointment with someone. The number for the front desk is 716-888-8300.

The office for the Undergraduate Student Association is also located in the tunnels, and you can reach Executive Vice President Olivia Owens at owenso@canisius.edu. USA is made up of student representatives who want to advocate for you.

Canisius has no shortage of resources for survivors of sexual assault. Wherever you choose to go, or whomever you choose to confide in, there is someone here on campus to help you through this time. Aside from this list, there is Campus Ministry, Peace Action, professors, and more who are ready and available to support you. No one should have to suffer from sexual violence at all, and you definitely don’t have to handle it on your own. No matter how you want to handle the situation, Canisius is on your side to guide you through your experience. If you have survived sexual assault, you are supported, believed, and in control of how you choose to handle it. Just know that you have these resources available to you while you’re here at Canisius.