Administrator fights sexual assault By Carson Cook

Allison Cansler, assistant director of UTCs Center for

Women and Gender Equity, is one of the primary advo-
cates for victims of sexual violence on campus.
From her office located on the third floor of the UC,
Cansler runs the C.W.G.E.s survivor advocacy services.
She serves faculty, staff, and students who have experi-
enced relationship violence, sexual assault, stalking, or
sexual assault, whether at UTC or elsewhere.
Cansler said she tries to streamline the process of
connecting victims to resources.
For example, she can help survivors arrange temporary
housing or academic accommodations. She can go with
them to talk to the police, explain university policies and
procedures, or connect them to counseling services.
Cansler serves not only people who experience sexual
violence while attending UTC, but also students whose
friend or family member was assaulted, or who experi-
enced trauma during their childhood.
I think secondary victims get left behind, so Im here
to consult, Im here to provide support and connect to
resources, so not only can you have help, but also you can
help your friend, said Cansler.
In addition to more direct survivor advocacy, Cansler
is involved in other C.W.G.E. programing. At Take Back
the Night, Cansler greeted attendees, handed out
Photo by Carson Cook
See ASSAULT Page 2
Allison Cansler works on a grant proposal. Cansler said the
main goal of this grant would be to hire a prevention specialist.

Photo by Carson Cook

Allison Cansler hands a button to Daniel Grz-
Photo by Carson Cook
Allison Cansler attaches buttons to a note about the survivor esik, associate Dean of Students. Cansler has
advocacy services. Cansler and Bethany Smith delivered these worked closely with the Dean of Students office
notes to departments around Campus. to help survivors.

Allison Cansler attends a discussion of Roxane Gays Hunger as part of Love York Body week. Cansler said en-
gaging in student events like this part of what makes working in higher education different from the nonprofit sector.
Assault
Continued from Page 1
swag, and served as a counselor during
the speak out portion of the night. As
part of Love Your Body week, she
attended a book club discussion of
Roxane Gays Hunger, a memoir that
explores Gays experience with eating
disorders and sexual assault.
Cansler is currently working on a
grant application through the feder-
al Department of Justice. The grant,
worth $750,000 spread over three
years, would allow the survivor advo-
cacy program to do more education and
prevention.
Cansler said that one of main things the
administration can do to better serve
sexual assault survivors is provide
more staffing.
We dont have a full time prevention-
ist here on campus, and so that makes it
really hard, she said.
Photo by Carson Cook
Several administrators including Cans-
ler, Sara Peters, the director of the
C.W.G.E., and Stephanie Rowland,
the Title IX coordinator, work on train-
ing and prevention, but without a staff
member focusing on these programs,
Cansler says they are stretched thin.
Cansler began working at UTC in Janu-
ary 2017, making her one of the newest
members of the C.W.G.Es staff. Cans-
ler realized she wanted to work against
violence against women as an under-
graduate, when in an Introduction to
Womens Studies course, Cansler saw
a documentary about sex trafficking in
New York, called Very Young Girls.
She has worked with the sex crimes
division of the Los Angeles Police De-
partment, Turning Point, a domestic
violence shelter that provided services
to sexual assault victims in Tuscaloosa,
Ala. and for S.A.I.L., or Special As- Photo by Carson Cook
sessment Intervention and Liaison, a
program that helps survivors of domes- Cansler said she is a big fan of
tic violence with young children. Gays work.