Grant to fund sexual violence education, reporting

By Amanda Phipps

phippsa@mytjnow.com

Carrie Morphis is the new victims coordinator at Winthrop. Photo by Claire VanOstenbridge • Special to The Johnsonian Though rapes and incidents of sexual assault happen, not many people report them. The Department of Justice grant that Winthrop received this year will help encourage reporting.  

The three-year $299,209 grant is the first the university has been given. It will provide support for education and counseling services for victims and does not require a match from Winthrop. 

The grant also funds a full-time victims coordinator, who will work with different organizations in the community and on campus to provide students with a safe place to report sexual violence. That coordinator is Carrie Morphis, who got her undergraduate degree in psychology and her master’s in school psychology at Winthrop.

“We want to have a more community-based focus and work with Winthrop in serving survivors,” she said.

Morphis heard about the coordinator job through an advertisement.

“I felt like I could excel at (the job) and I feel passionate about helping people live safe, healthy lives,” she said.

Along with the coordinator position, the grant provides education and support for four main areas: sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking and dating violence, Morphis said.

The grant also allows Winthrop to form the Sexual Violence Task Force (SVTF), a coordinated community response team consisting of students, survivors, Campus Police and local law enforcement, campus judiciary board members and Safe Passage, a local non-profit organization that provides services for victims of abuse.

“We try to partner with several campus organizations and anyone who wants to provide education or programming pertaining to sexual violence,” Morphis said.         

Survivors, despite gender, can come speak to Morphis and get the support they may need.

“We’re here to help everyone,” she said.

The grant provides a centralized office on campus for reporting sexual assault, Morphis said. People who are survivors can come report the incident to Morphis in Crawford and can choose to remain anonymous, she said.

“A lot of people know they are victims but are too scared to come forward,” she said. “We guide students through the process (of reporting) so they don’t have to do it alone.”

Reporting the incident does not mean the victim will have to bring it to police, Morphis said.

“Nothing will happen unless they want it to,” she said.

Though there is some planning on how to help the victims, the support is handled on a case-by-case basis, Morphis said.

“Each individual case is specific to the person,” she said. “We empower the survivor.”  

Through the grant, Winthrop will also hire a counselor who will cater specifically to survivors, Morphis said.

“We want to make sure they are seen and provided with on-going support from the time of initial reporting,” she said.

To help students and faculty better understand how to identify and report sexual violence, the Office for Victims Assistance will set up an online training course that all incoming students will have to take, Morphis said. Training will also be available for faculty and staff.

“We want to provide education and better services to all incoming students,” Morphis said.

During the three years of the grant, Morphis and other faculty and staff members, including wellness coordinator Brianne Gemeinhardt, will travel to different areas around the country to learn how to better carry out the programs.

“We will learn from other schools that have successfully implemented these programs,” she said.

Morphis will also work with the SVTF to examine the education, training, victim support services and protocols these programs will provide and recommend revisions as needed, she said. The goal is to help reduce crimes and increase reporting.

Once the three years are up, Winthrop plans to re-apply for the grant, Morphis said.

“The goal is to make these changes to Winthrop’s program permanent,” she said.

Even if the university does not receive the grant again, Health and Counseling Services will work to find other ways to fund the programs, Morphis said.

“There is a great need for them, and they are not something we want to let go easily,” she said. “We will try to keep them.”