The event was organized by the ASUC Office of the President in conjunction with ASUC senators Sadia Saifuddin, Rosemary Hua and Megan Majd. In order to raise awareness of such crimes on campus, victims of sexual assault shared their stories.

According to a Berkeley Police Department crime report, there were 39 reported incidents of sexual assault in the city of Berkeley in 2012, up from 20 incidents in 2011.

“(Sexual assault) is something that doesn’t discriminate against color or gender,” Saifuddin said. “It’s something that happens to a lot of people.”

According to Bay Area Women Against Rape training coordinator Agustina Perez, 85 percent of sexual assaults are committed by a person whom the victim knows, and only one in 10 victims report the crime.

Student attendees included members of the campus sorority system and the ASUC. The workshop was facilitated by UCPD, University Health Services and BAWAR.

“(Events like Fight Back) allow survivors of sexual assault who are silenced to have a voice,” Hua said. “But it also allows for facetime between UCPD and students (and) facilities a discussion.”

Speakers at the event noted the importance of discussing sexual assault in an open and safe environment.

“The reason why sexual violence is rising at such alarming rates is because people don’t talk about it,” Perez said. “Anything that will get people to talk and create safe spaces is a step in the right direction.”

Community leaders provided attendees with resources to defend themselves against attack.

During the workshop, UCPD officers offered a pepper spray demonstration as well as basic self-defense techniques. Officers said one of the most basic but useful techniques in the case of an assault is to shout for help. The workshop also offered free pepper spray to participants.

“There is nothing that anyone can do that warrants (or) causes rape,” Perez said during her presentation. “The only person responsible for rape is the one committing it.”

Director and Title IX Officer Denise Oldman of the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination said that it is important to know that there are allies in the community for sexual assault victims. She addressed the various resources available to students, including medical, psychological and emotional health services, residential needs and prevention help.

Members of the ASUC and campus community alike said they hope events like Fight Back will educate the students that attended and continue to raise awareness about sexual assault and violence within the UC Berkeley community.

“I feel like it’s important to have events that raise awareness about how critical an issue (sexual violence is) both on campus and in general,” said sophomore Taylor Fugere, who is a member of Greeks Against Sexual Assault and involved in the Gender Equity Resource Center.

UCPD Officer Brendan Tinney said he hopes to see more involvement with sexual assault prevention from other groups on campus, such as fraternities.

“I think there’s some interest specifically in the part of fraternities, at least some of them,” Tinney said. “But I’m waiting for them to reach out. You don’t (only) teach the group that’s interested in the topic.”

Contact Jennie Yoon at jyoon@dailycal.org.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that there had been 39 incidents of sexual assault on the UC Berkeley campus this year, a 95 percent increase from 19 incidents the previous year. In fact, there were 39 reported incidents of sexual assault in the city of Berkeley in 2012, up from 20 incidents in 2011.

The post ASUC holds workshop on sexual violence and safety appeared first on The Daily Californian.

The lawsuit surfaced after Zhivka Valiavicharska, a graduate student in the campus rhetoric department, accused Tinney of using excessive force when he allegedly struck her hand with a baton during a Nov. 20, 2009 campus protest against UC fee increases and layoffs.

The trial took place last week at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. A Facebook event for the trial named political science professor Wendy Brown and UC Santa Cruz graduate student Cindy Rose Bello, among others, as possible witnesses called to testify during the case.

“We should use this as a chance to test the courtrooms against the atrocities UCPD continues to commit on our campuses,” Valiavicharska wrote on the Facebook page.

While Valiavicharska also accused campus UCPD Chief Mitch Celaya and UCPD Capt. Margo Bennett of failing to supervise and adequately discipline Tinney in an October 2010 filing, according to a court document, the judge dismissed them before the trial.

Valiavicharska, who was among a group of protesters situated outside Wheeler Hall during the 2009 protest, was allegedly warned by Tinney several times to remove her hand from a metal barrier set up by UCPD, according to the court document. After a series of warnings, Tinney allegedly struck her hand with his baton.

The campus claims that Valiavicharska was shaking the barrier before he struck her. Valiavicharska, on the other hand, says she was holding the barrier for support, not shaking it, when she was hit, according to the document.

Betsy Vincent covers academics and administration.

The post Jury concludes UCPD officer did not violate protester’s rights appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Zhivka Valiavicharska — a graduate student in the rhetoric department — claims that UCPD officer Brendan Tinney “severely and permanently” injured her left pinky finger when he allegedly hit her hand with a baton during a Nov. 20, 2009, protest outside Wheeler Hall, according to a December court document. Valiavicharska filed the lawsuit on Oct. 26, 2010.

The document states that Valiavicharska received four surgeries as a result of her injury, though the defendants claim that at least one of the surgeries was necessitated by her failure to properly care for her injury.

The trial, which is open to the public, is scheduled to take place Monday through Friday in San Francisco at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, according to the court’s website.

Valiavicharska claims Tinney violated her right to free speech and used unreasonable force and that campus UCPD Chief Mitch Celaya and UCPD Capt. Margo Bennett failed to supervise and adequately discipline the officer, according to the document. In addition, Valiavicharska made state law claims for battery against Tinney and negligent supervision against Celaya and Bennett.

The judge dismissed all of the named defendants besides Tinney because of lack of evidence to support Valiavicharska’s claims, campus spokesperson Janet Gilmore said in an email.

According to the document, Tinney was called to work on Nov. 20, 2009, after a group of protesters barricaded themselves inside Wheeler Hall to protest UC fee increases and layoffs.

The police placed metal barricades around the perimeter of the building, and officers were instructed to keep additional protesters from crossing the barriers toward the building, the document states.

Valiavicharska, who was among the protesters standing outside, was allegedly warned by Tinney to remove her hand from the barricade. When she did not comply, he struck the barricade a few inches from her hand and issued her verbal warnings to move it, according to the document.

A video of this incident was allegedly submitted to the court by Valiavicharska, but it was presented too late and also could not be authenticated, according to the document.

Reclaim UC — a blog that follows UC protests and budget cuts, among other issues — posted a video that allegedly portrays part of the interaction between Tinney and Valiavicharska.

What happened after after Tinney allegedly struck the barrier is not completely clear.

The campus contends that Valiavicharska began to shake the barrier and was repeatedly warned to remove her hands, Gilmore said in the email. Valiavicharska continued, and Tinney then struck her hand with his baton, according to Gilmore.

“The university contends that given the chaotic circumstances that day, the importance of holding the barricade line for crowd control, and the repeated warnings, the use of force was reasonable,” Gilmore said in the email.

Valiavicharska, on the other hand, claims she was holding the barricade for support, not shaking it, when her hand was struck by Tinney, according to the document.

“The police aren’t really adequately prepared to deal with protest situations on campus,” said Robert Dudley, a campus professor of integrative biology who was arrested on Nov. 20, 2009, but later had all charges against him dropped.

Betsy Vincent covers academics and administration.

The post Trial begins for UCPD officer sued by student over 2009 Wheeler Hall protest incident appeared first on The Daily Californian.