UNM gets SMART about campus sexual misconduct and assault response
January 21, 2015
The University of New Mexico established “SMART,” or Sexual Misconduct and Assault Response Team, as front line campus responders for a range of sex crimes. The team is an evolution of SART, which responded exclusively to sexual assaults.
“SMART aims to be as victim-centered and victim-controlled as possible,” said Summer Little, director, Women’s Resource Center (WRC) and SMART chair.
One way SMART puts victims first is a “warm handoff.” “We carry the victim through the process. We don’t just give them a name and phone number of someone to contact. We take them to meet the person. We give them the Rape Crisis phone number, but if they need us to, we call and get them on the wait list for counseling,” she said. Little added that they seek to provide the kind of counseling best suited to the victim’s wants and needs. “Some want faith-based, others want cognitive behavior counseling. It’s up to them,” she said.
Other members of the team come from on and off campus and include: Student Health and Counseling (SHAC), Counseling Assistance Resource Center (CARS), Dean of Students, Office of Equal Employment Opportunity (OEO), the UNM Police Department, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) and the Rape Crisis Center.
