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Student Association President Justine Hastings expects the sexual assault reporting platform Callisto to become available to Syracuse University students next week, she said at Monday’s assembly meeting.

SA originally hoped the app, which uses a matching system to identify repeat sexual assault offenders, would be available for Mental Health Awareness Week in October, Hastings said. But due to “red tape,” SA had to push the initiative until now, she said.

SU students will have to use their university-provided email to access the service. Students will be able to access Callisto as soon as it is made available on campus, Hastings said.

Next Monday, SA will also vote on whether to make Callisto the “official resource for survivors of sexual assault” at SU. This will solidify SA’s relationship with Callisto, Hastings said.

“SA is formally voting to support Callisto as a resource for survivors of sexual assault and their allies,” Hastings said. “This is in order to ensure that SA and Callisto have a formal and sustained relationship rather than it just being up to the student leadership at the time.”

Hastings also provided more information at Monday’s meeting regarding SA’s initiative to reinstate the Posse Foundation scholarship for high school students in Los Angeles.

Posse offers full-tuition scholarships to high school students from underrepresented backgrounds. SU’s Posse scholarships program currently offers scholarships exclusively to students from Miami, though it also offered them to students from Los Angeles and Atlanta until the university cut those programs in 2015.

Keith Alford, SU’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, told Hastings that the money for Posse Los Angeles has been reallocated toward general scholarships that aid underrepresented students, she said. In 2014, SU reexamined its planned cuts to the Posse program after students protested the decision, but the university ultimately did not reinstate the Los Angeles and Atlanta programs.

Ryan Williams, the vice president for enrollment management, has said in the past that any money saved by reducing SU’s involvement with Posse would be put toward other forms of financial aid, including merit and need-based financial aid.

Hastings and SA Vice President Ryan Golden will meet with Williams in the coming weeks to further discuss the future of Posse Los Angeles, as well as the Posse Atlanta program, Hastings said.

Published on November 2, 2020 at 11:18 pm

Contact Alexandra: azpollac@syr.edu