TO SECURE inclusive environments within student organizations, the Council of Organizations of the Ateneo – Manila (COA-M) has released its new Safe Spaces Declaration (SSD), emphasizing the need for stronger reinforcement of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) policies.

COA-M Safe Spaces Coordinator and SSD primary author Jhio Camama stated that the declaration utilizes a “survivor-centric” approach to bridge the University’s safe spaces policies within organizations. The document is designed to empower survivors for them to come forward and report SGBV cases.

Modeled after the Sanggunian’s previous SSD published back in 2021, the declaration aims to guide organization officers under COA-M on how to address SGBV cases within their respective organizations.

A sequence of events

Since last year, Camama mentioned that he has been drafting the SSD with the previous COA-M President Nina San Andres. Subsequently, he has also consulted with offices such as the University Gender and Development Office (UGDO), the Office of Student Affairs (OSA), and other student organizations, to ensure that this declaration caters to all undergraduate students.

To legally bind the declaration, Camama stated that they consulted with the University Legal and Compliance Office. He also deliberated with the Legal Council Office, the Legal Council of Ateneo, and the Legal Compliance Office of the Ateneo to ensure that the declaration complies with the law.

Regarding these consultations, UGDO Director Melissa Lao, PhD emphasized that the topic of safe spaces is “not [an] easy” discussion given its sensitive nature. Still, Lao added that the declaration can help Atenean students be more “proactive” by raising awareness as to how the community can be made safer.

Upon these consultations, Camama mentioned that he and his team found that most organizations lack policies surrounding SGBV. To start alleviating this issue, their team has been conducting Onboarding Sessions on the Code and Rules for Student Organizations (OSCARS) with interested offices such as the School Office of Decorum and Investigation and the University Office of Decorum and Investigation.

“[T]he SSD is also an amplification of their respective organizational policies, so if they don’t have an organizational policy, the SSD cannot amplify that. We implore organizations […] to have policies regarding their SGBV safe spaces or member safety,” Camama clarified in a mix of English and Filipino.

Guarding student spaces

Encouraging organizations to reflect on their current policies and core values, the SSD allows an organization to determine if its members truly emulate its mission and vision. It mandates members of the COA-M organizations to disclose their history of past SGBV cases, if any.

“Organization presidents are required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with the offices, with COA and OSA, to keep the confidentiality of these cases,” Camama said. 

Additionally, deliberations on the alleged perpetrator’s membership status to the organization will occur. These will be held accordingly by COA-M and OSA, with the knowledge of only the COA-M Safe Spaces Coordinator, the organization’s president, executive secretary, human resources officer, and the respective head of the alleged perpetrator.

Camama clarified that the deliberations are not investigations since organizations are prohibited from implementing independent procedures. Rather, these deliberations are a compilation of relevant facts. From this, COA-M urges organizations to create policies in regard to SGBV safe spaces.

Advocating for safety

Moving towards a more inclusive future, Lao sees this document as an opportunity to spread awareness on how to create safer spaces in organizations. With her office focused on conducting Gender Sensitivity Trainings (GST) and onboardings through OSCARS, she also hopes to have focal point persons for safe space per organizational cluster.

“[A]ll of our solutions sometimes begin [and] sometimes end with a conversation. […] We see the [problems] and we say, ‘okay, after this we will do things differently,’” Lao added, emphasizing her hopes of incorporating safe spaces training and gender sensitivity discussions into the University’s curriculum.

However, Lao also mentioned that safe spaces within organizations present a different view from spaces beyond their discretion, stressing the need to acknowledge the other spaces occupied by students both on and off-campus.

As the constituent body representing all of the University’s accredited organizations, COA-M is also focused on creating more avenues for students to be informed and involved through policymaking and projects like workshops and GSTs.

While the SSD focuses on COA-M organizations, Camama said that groups from the League of Independent Organizations have also been coordinating with the Gender Hub, hinting at the possibility of the declaration to be adopted outside of COA-M.

With the SSD, Camama hopes for organizations to deliberate how their policies would align with their mission and vision, as well as the Ignatian values. Furthermore, he emphasized that the declaration does not intend for organizations to be vindicated, but rather calls them to hone accountability and transparency.

ADDENDUM: Additional information was provided to the original article for further clarification. Furthermore, certain acronyms were corrected upon being made known to the editors.