Over the past six months, the conversation about sexual assault has been elevated to levels never before seen at this university. University administrators have created a new Office of Sexual Misconduct & Relationship Violence (also known as the Title IX office), established a new sexual misconduct policy and rolled out a comprehensive sexual assault prevention and bystander intervention training for all students.

While fantastic improvements have come to this university, the student body has been rightfully vocal about its concerns with certain aspects of the new policy. We want to reassure students that their concerns are being heard.

The current policy is an interim one — there is still plenty of time to propose changes before it is finally approved by the University Senate. The senate is slated to examine and make recommendations regarding the policy during the spring semester, and as student leaders, we are working with students and adminsitrators to propose amendments that will craft a stronger, more inclusive policy.

We have been listening attentively to the various petitions, protests and postings of concern about this policy, and we are continuing conversations with university President Wallace Loh and Catherine Carroll, Title IX director, to come up with an inclusive policy. Over the next couple of months, we will work with the Title IX office and other administrators to hold open town hall meetings for students to voice their concerns with the interim policy, so we know exactly how to amend the policy in the senate.

Besides attending town halls, feel free to reach out to us directly and share your concerns at facebook.com/WTFumd, on Twitter @wtfUMD or at my personal email, sgapresident@umd.edu.

No matter what the policy is, the presence of sexual violence on our campus is a culture issue, and the best thing we can do as a student body is to foster the conversation and show our peers that we will not tolerate sexual violence. We strongly urge students to take the new online sexual assault training.

To be frank, the comments I have seen from students on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and other social media platforms regarding the training have been extremely disheartening. Sexual assault is the most important student life problem facing this university, so to see some students taking this training lightly is disgusting.

It’s on all of us to stop sexual assault; the training provides students with valuable knowledge and tools to do just that. All students have a responsibility to be informed about sexual misconduct and to know that such behavior is unacceptable, on this campus or anywhere. Be sure not just to complete the online training, but take it seriously.

Sexual assault is a horrible and traumatic experience, and survivors need to know they are not alone. There are many fantastic resources on the campus for survivors, and we hope that anyone who is dealing with a sexual health issue is aware of the help available to them through this university.

Students who choose to report sexual misconduct can do so through the Title IX office, the Office of Student Conduct or the Department of Resident Life’s Office of Rights and Responsibilities.

For a confidential resource, feel free to reach out to CARE to Stop Violence in the University Health Center (the phone number, 301-741-3442, is on the back of student ID cards) or the Help Center (301-314-4357), the peer counseling student group located on the third floor of the South Campus Dining Hall.

If you or a friend has experienced a traumatic sexual experience, please do not be afraid to speak up and utilize these available resources.

Patrick Ronk is SGA president and a junior government and politics major. He can be reached at sgapresident@umd.edu.