To the Editors:

In the uproar over SAST’s termination of its hotline, one issue has not been discussed — that there are inherent problems in having necessary campus services being run by a student organization.

Having a 24-hour, confidential, peer counseling hotline that deals with issues of sexualized violence is necessary, but it cannot function without administrative control.

SAST has a history of alienating students through its politics and controversial positions. While there is merit in the debate that flows from these positions being discussed, their affiliation with a service providing crisis counseling is problematic. A crisis hotline needs to be as nonpolitical as possible so that it may be perceived as a source of support for as many students as it can.

High student turnover in the hotline means that without permanent staff, there is not necessarily continuity in the knowledge, experience or training in the student counselors. This past semester there was only one person who had completed SAST’s hotline counselor training.

The other counselors had been trained by various organizations ranging from SIC to a suicide counseling line. There was no comprehensive training provided to the counselors that was overseen by one organization or individual.

This is not a good way to run a crisis hotline. Students did not have the time or resources to keep up-to-date with developments in sexualized and domestic violence law or the changes in the fields of social work and counseling.

Crisis counseling on this campus could be infinitely improved if a staff member from one comprehensive syllabus trained student counselors.

Therefore, I would like to propose that the administration create a 24-hour, confidential, peer counseling hotline that deals with sexualized and domestic violence.

This hotline would be supervised by a staff member and staffed by trained volunteer students.

Trainings would be available to any student who wished to take them, and could be taught in conjunction with the Nord Rape Crisis Center, which has established training programs for crisis counselors or training directed solely by staff.

This training would provide an up-to-date education on ways to counsel survivors and those around them, as well as providing information on laws and resources specific to Oberlin and Ohio.

The new hotline could be based out of an existing campus office such as the Wellness Center, the Counseling Center or Student Health. This hotline would be kept as nonpolitical as possible so that as many people as possible would find it to be an accessible resource.

Training to be a crisis counselor as well as the services provided by the hotline should be well advertised so that students and staff feel that the hotline is a supportive and welcoming resource. Hotline counselors must not have a duty to report what callers tell them so that callers know that the calls are confidential and that there will be no results of the call that they have not initiated.

Since SAST has shut down its hotline, I have heard outrage and dismay throughout the campus. Students know that a hotline is needed, and we are appalled that student politics superseded the ability of our hotline to function.

I feel confident that the administration will choose to support this campus’ survivors. The shutdown of SAST’s hotline should be taken as an opportunity to improve the way this campus helps survivors, not a sign that such support is impossible.

I can not imagine that the administration would choose to miss this opportunity.

–Rebecca Tinkelman
College senior