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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Victorious Raiders parade trophy through downtown Ashland State police search for pursuit suspect near Hyatt Lake Police Reports Cheering on the champs Ashland's Safeway part of Haggen acquisition Education For a friend: AHS seniors team up to help former fellow student Ashland builds a bridge across the STEM gap Chicken pox hits Ashland Middle School AHS speech and debate team to compete in Medford Ashland: Lions Club steps up for vision tests Environment New TAP pumps bolster Ashland's options Most residents speak against gas pipeline proposed for Southern Oregon Home Help: Make your new house feel like home ‘Tis the season — for wild mushrooms Business Ashland's Safeway part of Haggen acquisition The Playwright pub will be serving again Saturday Mt. 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State police search for pursuit suspect near Hyatt Lake ... Raiders bring it home ... Victorious Raiders parade trophy through downtown Ashland ... State police search for pursuit suspect near Hyatt Lake ... Raiders bring it home ... SOUTHERN OREGON UNIVERSITY Local rep to testify before U.S. Senate panel Tuesday Angela Fleischer helped set up police and campus protocols for handling sexual assault reports Comment By Sam Wheeler For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Sam Wheeler For the Tidings Posted Dec. 6, 2014 @ 2:18 pm By Sam Wheeler For the Tidings Posted Dec. 6, 2014 @ 2:18 pm » RELATED CONTENT • Ashland police honored for sexual assault reporting program • APD advises U.S. military on sexual assault cases • Sexual assault reporting to expand • Ashland police say effort to get sexual assaults reported... • Police want to hear from sexual assault victims » Social News Southern Oregon University will have a voice on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to speak with lawmakers about how law enforcement can best handle cases of sexual assault occurring on university campuses across the country.  The university and Ashland police's collaborative and unique approach to pursuing on-campus sexual misconduct investigations has helped shed more light on the frequency of crimes like sexual assault and led to the convictions of more perpetrators.  The U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism will hear about why other universities and local law enforcement departments around the country should follow the lead of SOU and Ashland police when it comes to taking on reports of sexual assault.  "Nationally there are not many places where a campus administration and law enforcement entity collaborate on the level that we do here," said Angela Fleischer, 33, SOU’s Assistant Director of Student Support and Intervention for Confidential Advising -- a victims' advocate for the university.  Fleischer will be SOU's voice when she testifies before the Senate subcommittee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.  Fleischer, who helped the Ashland Police Department develop its highly regarded sexual assault reporting program called "You Have Options" in 2013, developed a similar program more recently at SOU called "Campus Choice."  Both programs have a similar approach to how and whether law enforcement or university officials gather evidence during an investigation into a sexual assault and both allow the victim to dictate the pace of the investigation.  "The university does not report to police without the student wanting to," said Fleischer, who is trained to speak with victims of sexual crimes that come forward to the university.  "When a case is brought forward to a college administrator there would be this statement of 'of course you are free to contact the police.'" she said. "What I do is, I provide support to students throughout the entire process, whichever process they choose, or if they choose both. It's really having someone on campus who can explain the criminal process to victims, the person that helps guide them through each system and process and explains it to them."  Another trait of both victims' reporting programs is the method by which victims are interviewed. University officials handle cases similarly to police detectives, Fleischer said, so that if the victim decides to involve police, school officials can pass off credible evidence concerning the case.  Since SOU and APD launched their revamped victims' reporting programs, the rate of reports has doubled in Ashland, and it's expected to continue growing, Fleischer said.  "More information can give you the ability to address and react to a situation, but information can also be scary," she said, pointing to a commonly accepted statistic of just 10 percent of Oregon's sex crime victims reporting.  "It's not that sexual assault has increased, it't that we have students that have more faith in the system for reporting ... students can come forward and gather info about their options without things moving forward," she said.  According to SOU's 2014 Campus Report on Sexual Misconduct, 24 anonymous reports of sexual misconduct were reported by students to the Women's Resource Center during the 2012-2013 academic year, and eight reports were made to the university by victims.  During the 2011-2012 school year, those numbers were 14 WRC reports and nine university reports, with eight WRC reports and eight university reports in 2010-2011 and 19 WRC reports and eight university reports in 2009-2010.  Since APD launched its You Have Options program, the number of reports in Ashland has climbed 106 percent.  At some point the rise in reporting numbers should level off, Fleischer said, allowing universities and law enforcement agencies to more narrowly focus education and victim support related to sex crimes on college campuses.  Fleischer, who is scheduled to speak for five minutes during the hearing, will be joined at the hearing by Jackson County Sexual Assault Response Team Executive Director Susan Moen.  SOU and APD's partnership to improve the reporting process for victims of sexual crimes served at a model for a Senate bill introduced in July by U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). The aim of McCaskill's bill, which is scheduled for a hearing early next year, is to increase campus coordination with law enforcement during the course of sex crime investigations.  Reach freelance reporter Sam Wheeler at [email protected]. By Sam Wheeler For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Sam Wheeler For the Tidings Posted Dec. 6, 2014 @ 2:18 pm » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2014 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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