CARE provides confidential advocacy, support, and related referrals for graduate students as well as undergraduates, staff, faculty, and alumni impacted by sexual assault, relationship violence, and stalking.
Graduate students are unique members of the university community, often times as both a full time student and UCSB employee. Due to this dual role graduate students may feel that the resources on campus are not fit to meet their needs. CARE frequently works with the Graduate Division to navigate students’ academic, research, employment, and financial needs resulting from an experience of interpersonal violence that either recently occurred or is still causing a disturbance in their academic, personal, or work life.
Some graduate students are parents who might have concerns about child care needs that have been impacted by an experience of violence. CARE is here to support every survivor in creating a safety plan that best fits the individual and their family/ loved ones. CARE is able to advocate for needs that affect both the individual survivor and others who have been impacted by the violence.
Navigating your options
Graduate students, like all UCSB community members, deserve safe, equitable working conditions, free from harassment and gender-based discrimination. CARE can assist graduate students in understanding their reporting options and the resources available throughout their healing process. If a survivor chooses to report experiences of sexual harassment or violence that they have directly experienced or witnessed in the course of their work at UCSB, a CARE advocate can be by their side throughout the reporting process. Reporting processes on campus can include the Title IX/Sexual Harassment Policy Compliance office, the Academic Senate, Academic Personnel, and/or Human Resources.
Accommodations
CARE advocates can assist graduate students and researchers in receiving reasonable accommodations for academic and campus life, including but not limited to:
- Revised deadlines or pace of work with advisors (including rescheduling a dissertation defense)
- Discreet workplace accommodations to promote safety, regardless of whether or not the student wants to formally report sexual violence or harassment
- Referrals to additional mental and behavioral health support services with expertise in the needs of graduate students
- Navigating department politics and potential social impacts if violence or harassment have been disclosed to fellow students or faculty
- Emergency funding for medical needs, transportation to services related to sexual or relationship violence, temporary safe housing, and other unexpected, one-time expenses as appropriate through CARE’s Survivor Fund
- Advocating for safe and sustainable housing for the survivor and their family
- Accompaniment during reporting processes and court appearances
The Importance of Location
CARE has two locations one in the Student Resource Building (SRB) located on the 2nd Floor closest to Pardall Tunnel in Room 2145 and the other in the Gaucho Support Center in Isla Vista near Embarcadero Hall. Our location in the SRB is conveniently located in the same building as the Graduate Student Resource center, who is a wonderful source of information and assistance for graduate student needs. CARE wants all survivors to feel empowered to ask for their appointment to be located at whichever office fits best with their needs and feelings of safety and stability.
Confidentiality
All faculty and staff, who are not confidential, are required to report all students’ disclosures of sexual violence, relationship violence, and/or stalking to the Title IX office to ensure consistent student services and Title IX policy compliance. A CARE advocate can discuss any student’s concerns one-on-one, without sharing the student’s name, identifying information, or any other details about their visit with CARE with other campus offices, including Title IX. Your faculty advisor and your department will not be notified that you have visited CARE, unless you explicitly request CARE’s assistance in working with them.
CARE recognizes…
CARE recognizes that each individual may hold many of the different identities that our Communities we CARE for pages address. For more information on another identity, please go back to Communities we CARE for.
We support survivors from all backgrounds, the survivors that we serve are not limited to the identities listed on our Communities we CARE for page. If you do not see your identity listed, and would like to learn how interpersonal violence impacts you, please call our 24/7 confidential phone number at 805-893-4613 or make an appointment online to be connected with a confidential advocate.
Making an Appointment
with a CARE Advocate
Schedule a non-urgent appointment with a CARE Advocate.
To speak with a confidential advocate immediately, please call our 24/7 CARE advocacy line at 805-893-4613. If you have an emergency or feel that you may be in immediate danger, please call 911.
If you have experienced a sexual assault within the last five days, call CARE at 805-893-4613 or navigate to the Medical section on our Advocacy Services page to learn about the time-sensitive option to seek a free, confidential forensic medical exam.