After a semester in which they moved from the sidelines to the center of campus politics, the Coalition Against Sexual Violence is restructuring for next year and strengthening its campaign for a women's center.

The coalition, formed in February 1998, has been run as a collective with 15 to 30 members attending its weekly meetings.

Vaulted into the spotlight by the controversy surrounding the charges of sexual assault against D. Drew Douglas, Class of 2000, the coalition recently won two important concessions from the administration.

As part of its preparation for more activism next year, the coalition has opted for a more formal leadership structure. It elected Alexis B. Karteron '01 and Kaitlin McGaw '00 co-chairs for next year in a meeting Thursday evening. J. Orchid Pusey '00 will be the secretary and treasurer, and Shauna L. Shames '01 is the new members coordinator.

McGaw said the change in structure is aimed at better organization. But, she added, "we want to continue in a non-hierarchical way."

She said next year the coalition plans to reach out to the Harvard community to create a larger membership base.

"We want people to feel they can come and have their voices heard," McGaw said.

And, it seems, the coalition has been heard by some in University Hall. Recently the College has promised to improve Sexual Assault Sexual Harassment (SASH) training and to make minor reforms to first-year orientation to promote more awareness about sexual assault and rape.

These were two of the eight demands submitted to University Hall by the coalition in February. The demands were submitted after two undergraduate women who had been sexually assaulted spoke publicly about their experiences for the first time.

Joshua M. Elster, Class of 2000, pled guilty to rape and indecent assault and battery of an undergraduate female in Middlesex Superior Court in September. In the same month, Douglas pled guilty to indecent assault and battery of an undergraduate woman.

This spring, the coalition took part in a rally and other events to raise awareness about rape and sexual assault oncampus, and met regularly with the administrationabout their specific demands.

Each House or each sector of the Yard has atleast one SASH tutor "to serve as a `point offirst contact' for students who have concernsabout sexual harassment and assault," according tothe 1998-1999 SASH advisors' handbook.

The coalition charged that the currenttraining--monthly meetings that the membersclaimed all advisors did not always attend--wasinadequate for the amount of responsibility placedon the advisors.

Now, according to Acting Assistant Dean ofCo-education Julia G. Fox, the administration willoffer a three-hour training session in Septemberfor SASH advisors before the start of the academicyear in addition to the monthly meetings. Fox saidthe September session will probably not bemandatory.

"Graduate students have a lot ofresponsibilities so we can't mandate," Fox said."I think tutors take their training seriously."

Coalition members had originally demanded aone-to two-day training session, but Fox said thetutors cannot devote this much time to training.