LIHU‘E — Two bills aiming to reduce sexual violence at the University of Hawaii have passed the legislative session and are awaiting final approval from Governor Josh Green.
House Bill 580 would work to ensure the confidentiality of victims. House Bill 540 would require increased sexual misconduct training for staff, as well as provide immunity to students that report sexual misconduct from disciplinary action across the university’s 10 campuses.
HB 580 would expand victim counselor privilege under the Hawaii Rules of Evidence to include the position of confidential advocates at the University of Hawaii, so discussions between victims and confidential advocates are kept confidential and not required to be used in court.
State law, as written in Rule 505.5 of HRS § 626-1, establishes confidentiality between a victim and a victim counselor but doesn’t mention confidential advocates — a relatively new role implemented by the University of Hawaii within the past 10 years. Confidential advocates provide mental health and resource support services for issues, including sexual harassment, dating violence, stalking, and sexual misconduct.
Rep. Linda Ichiyama (District 32), a sponsor of HB 580 and a co-chair of the Hawaii Women’s Legislative Caucus, said the issue arose during discussions between the caucus and the university.
“They brought up this protection that domestic violence counselors and sexual assault counselors had, but that their confidential advocates didn’t have. And basically, because the position was so new, we needed to update our evidentiary statutes,” she said in an interview with The Garden Island.
“So, the privilege existed for domestic violence counselors, and sexual assault counselors, but not for confidential advocates, who really kind of deal with both issues. So, we felt like it was important that given the work that they do, that they’d be provided with the same level of protection as long as they met the minimum training requirements.”
Ichiyama added that many students and faculty want to seek help without being publicly identified as a survivor.
‘Numbers reveal a crisis’
The other bill, HB 554, would require that the University of Hawaii provide ”mandatory annual trauma-informed, gender-inclusive, LGBTQ+-inclusive” sexual misconduct prevention and awareness programming for all students and employees.”
It would also require that individuals involved in implementing disciplinary processes have training or experience in handling sexual misconduct complaints, as well as prohibit the university from taking disciplinary action against individuals reporting sexual misconduct.
Rep. Jeanné Kapela (District 5), who sponsored HB 554, noted that 9 percent of University of Hawaii students have experienced sexual harassment and 6 percent have experienced sexual assault, according to the University of Hawaii’s 2021 climate survey.
“Those numbers reveal a crisis that UH administrators have a responsibility to address,” said Kapela in an email response to The Garden Island.
The 2021 survey states that it was completed by 6,726 out of the 40,1222 adult students enrolled across the university’s campuses in the 2021 spring semester.
“This bill is not meant as a criticism of the university. On the contrary, it is meant to support UH in delivering a trauma-informed response to sexual and gender violence. We know that when we provide effective systems of support for students, then incidents of gender violence decrease,” she said.
Student-led group supports measures
Both Kapela and Ichiyama said that their respective bills were created in collaboration with The Every Voice Coalition, a national organization working to prevent sexual violence on campus, as well as other advocacy groups.
Anna Ezzy, a graduate student at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, is the state director of the coalition’s student and survivor-led group Every Voice Hawaii. The group assisted in drafting both bills and organizing student support during the legislative session, said Ezzy, who called the bills “common sense basic protections that students need.”
Ezzy also noted the 2021 climate survey, which said that 5 out of 6 students that experienced gender violence did not use the university’s resources.
“With the climate survey, we can kind of see that overarching how many people are being affected and the numbers are really high,” said Ezzy.
Additionally, 73 percent of students reported negative emotional and mental health challenges from gender violence, and 46 percent reported academic challenges, according to the survey.
“But also without the climate survey, I’ve been at UH for one year. And you know, it’s impossible to navigate the campus without hearing people’s stories. Having people close to you be affected by sexual violence,” she said.
Ezzy’s hope is that the legislation will make students more comfortable to come forward and seek help from the university.
“Basically, just make sure that less people are suffering in silence and alone,” she said.
HB 580 was transmitted to Governor Josh Green on April 28. HB 554 was transmitted on May 4.
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Emma Grunwald, reporter, can be reached 808-652-0638 or egrunwald@thegardenisland.com.
