The issue with the nine candidates who have expressed interest so far is that the search committee has not been able to find someone who has minimal qualifications of independent licensure, Chief of Staff for the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost Laura Myers said.
The Ohio University Survivor Advocacy Program has been closed since November, and so far none of the nine applicants who have applied for the program's interim advocate role are qualified for the position.
The search committee tasked with finding an interim advocate has not been able to find someone who has minimal qualifications of independent licensure, Laura Myers, chief of staff for the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, said.
“Most people in this area who have licensure are employed,” Myers said. “This is kind of a specialty area. ... The importance of the licensure is that if we say we're offering confidential services, that that has the full weight of law behind it to have someone who has privilege.”
On Oct. 16, Delaney Anderson, the former program coordinator for OUSAP, left the university after taking a job outside OU. Anderson worked at OUSAP for less than a year and told OU officials about her departure Sept. 29.
Anderson was a non-mandated reporter, and her departure has left OUSAP without a licensed and credentialed program coordinator.
Anderson, who had an annual salary of $37,230, according to a public records request, was paid less when compared to similar sexual assault prevention program coordinators at universities in Ohio. Though those positions aren't identical to OU's program coordinator, they have similar job descriptions.
Jennie O’Connell, the director of the Office of Sexual and Relationship Violence Support Services at Kent State University, earns a salary of $56,610 and Rebecca Getson, the sexual assault response coordinator at Miami University, earns a salary of $53,200.
Ellenore Holbrook, a junior studying political science and a member of the student group F--kRapeCulture, said she is not surprised about the apparent salary gap.
“I’m hoping that once the university gets their act together and gets the new program underway that they will address this issue and ensure that the program coordinator is paid a decent wage, but there’s no promises for that,” Holbrook said.
The interim OUSAP advocate position was posted to ohiouniversityjobs.com on Nov. 11, according to a previous Post report. Then, on Nov. 16, OUSAP temporarily closed, meaning that the program's 24/7 hotline is not functioning and no staff is working out of the OUSAP offices.
Originally, applicants had until Nov. 27 to apply for the job, but the deadline was pushed back to Feb. 15, according to a previous Post report.
The university is using a search committee as opposed to a search firm to fill the role and the committee is trying to figure out how to make the position "more attractive," Myers said.
“I feel like our students are being served,” Myers said. “I know there's a desire to have someone whose sole focus is on survivor advocacy, but the reality is that all of our counselors in CPS are trained in sexual assault, sexual trauma, crises related to either past or present trauma as related to some kind of sexual means or sexual assault."
According to a previous Post report, counselors at Counseling and Psychological Services and anyone at Campus Care are the only non-mandated reporters on campus.
“I'm still committed to the idea of us offering services that will help our students but I think getting it right is the most important thing,” Myers said.
The search committee’s goal is to hiring someone “as soon as possible,” Myers said.
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“We’ve been putting a lot of work and effort into trying to figure out how to get this program back and back up successfully,” Interim Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones said.
Three staff members from the university — two from the Division of Student Affairs and one from Diversity and Inclusion — went to Florida to attend an Association of Title IX Administrators conference, Hall-Jones said.
“They did a track on advocacy and best practices for advocacy resources on campus so we sent three staff down there to just gather information, gather job descriptions, ask questions about the state laws and federal reporting requirements and how people negotiate that in an advocacy role,” Hall-Jones said.
—Dina Berliner contributed to this report.
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