Ohio University posted the OUSAP interim survivor advocate job to ohiouniversityjobs.com on Wednesday.
Ohio University has posted a job listing for an interim OU Survivor Advocacy Program advocate nearly a month after the previous coordinator vacated the position.
The job was posted Wednesday to ohiouniversityjobs.com and applicants have until Nov. 27 to apply for the full-time position. The university anticipates the person will fill the role until June 30, 2016.
Delaney Anderson, the former program coordinator for OUSAP, left OU Oct. 16 after taking a job outside the university. Anderson, whose annual salary was $37,230, notified OU officials of her departure Sept. 29, OU Spokeswoman Bethany Venable said in an email.
“The vacancy created by the resignation of the previous Coordinator offered an opportunity to re-evaluate the Program’s effectiveness in providing appropriate services to our students,” Venable said in an email. “We are following a careful, prudent path to ensuring staff and services available at OUSAP are fully compliant with laws and policies regulating programs such as OUSAP, while simultaneously offering sensitive and respectful support that includes confidentiality for survivors.”
Anderson’s departure has left OUSAP without a licensed and credentialed program coordinator, and Alicia Chavira-Prado, special assistant to the vice provost for Diversity and Inclusion, is providing administrative leadership to OUSAP while the university searches for a new coordinator, but she does not have a role in advocacy support services, according to a previous Post report.
According to the job description, the program advocate must engage “in outreach and provide survivor advocacy services and referrals to students of OU who have been impacted by stalking, dating violence, domestic violence and sexual assault on or off campus and students who are dealing with past trauma.”
The advocate will also serve as a source of support and information about the process for survivors who are involved in investigations by law enforcement and/or criminal prosecution and respond to the crisis line phone calls, according to the job posting.
“We will be working to fill the role as quickly as possible, but want to make sure that the candidate hired will be a good fit for the program and the University,” •Venable said in an email.
The posting lists the minimum qualifications for the job as: a master’s degree in social work, counseling or a related field, knowledge of how to deal with crisis, crisis intervention and legal matters.
OUSAP, which was launched in 2010, has partnered with Counseling and Psychological Services to provide survivors with confidential support after Anderson left.
Ellenore Holbrook, a junior studying political science and a member of the student group F--kRapeCulture, said she is happy the position has been posted.
“A lot of people are just finally relieving a sigh of relief that the position has been posted and now we just continue to wait,” Holbrook said.
Bobby Walker, a member of Student Union and a junior studying women's, gender and sexuality studies, said it's "a shame" the university took so long to position.
“I guess it’s a good thing that it’s up now, but I have no idea how this took that long,” she said. “God knows how many survivors needed their help from when Delaney left to now and all those people couldn’t be helped and have their needs met because OU couldn’t pull it together.”
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