Also last night the council decided to address the recent change to the Administrative Board’s policies that tightens the standards for starting a sexual assault investigation.
The council unanimously voted to look into the Harvard policy and ensure that students are given the same “fair and appropriate treatment...that the City Council expects [for] all Cambridge residents.”
Sullivan, who sponsored the measure, said the council should guarantee the rights of victims and assure that “appropriate procedures” are being taken to handle sexual assault complaints.
Councillor Henrietta Davis expressed concern that “the University policy might be less than supportive to the victims.”
“We want to make sure they aren’t creating a second class of citizens in students,” Davis said.
The council instructed City Manager Robert W. Healy to confer with the Cambridge police commissioner and the Middlesex County district attorney’s office to determine existing standards for sexual assault allegations and rights of sexual assault victims.
The council’s order also called for Healy to meet with the Harvard University Police Department and Harvard administrators and then report back to the council.
—Staff writer Stephanie M. Skier can be reached at skier@fas.harvard.edu.