Providence University College will be implementing a Provincial legislation for on-campus sexual violence prevention.

Bill 15 is the Sexual Violence Awareness and Prevention Act and was introduced and then tabled at the Legislature on Wednesday last week. The bill, if passed, would include reporting, response, and education requirements on campus of post-secondary institutes. Providence President David Johnson says they have policies currently in place on how to deal with an incident but notes having better prevention methods, including bullying on social media, is what they want to improve upon.

"We already do a bit [of education] in our student orientation in the fall, but we need to do more. We post our covenant of community life in various places around the school and emphasize it, and it's in the handbooks, but we need to do more in terms of educating students."

Associate Vice President of Student Life Marlin Reimer says it was not mandatory for Providence to take on the policies as of yet, but felt it was important to address the safety of the students as well as education and prevention of those who could potentially be accused of sexual violence.

"I think the education piece is always one that we can do better, so, I think it's a really, really important piece. Obviously, I think that the response piece is super important too because if there are any issues, it's really important for that person to be cared for. But, I think that there will be less of those issues if we deal with the education with our whole student body."

Reimer says when there is a large group of people, sexual violence is always an issue at some level. Johnson agrees noting sexual violence is a problem everywhere and Providence has dealt with those kinds of issues.

"Sexual violence takes place everywhere in society, it's not just on university campuses, so this bill will have an extension into society as a whole," says Johnson. "We'll be educating students who will go into society and they'll have this knowledge, this understanding, and they'll be able to make a positive impact."

A safe campus is at the core, notes Reimer. He says not just a physically safe campus, but emotionally and psychologically as well because when a student feels safe it forms a foundation for their ability to succeed in their education endeavours.

Johnson says the school board will vote to approve the policy revisions during their June meeting.