Briefs

Members named to governor’s sexual assault task
force

Fifteen members were appointed to the California Campus Sexual
Assault Task Force, earlier this month. Approved by Gov. Gray Davis
on Aug. 7, the members will conduct research and gather data about
sexual assaults on college campuses across California.

“They will look at the status of California with respect
to the incidents of sexual assault and they will design and develop
a uniform system for assessing that information and create a set of
model guidelines for addressing sexual assault issues,” said
Amber Pasricha, a spokeswoman for Davis.

California college campuses currently have a set of guidelines
for dealing with sexual assaults, but it is an ongoing
document.

“It always needs to be updated and kept current with the
different things that go on at different campuses across
California,” Pasricha said.

The task force was created in the 2001-2002 California
legislative year. It is required to put together a report of its
findings and present the report to the Legislature by April 1,
2004.

Among the 15 members is Gail Abarbanel, founder and director of
the Rape Treatment Center, which is based at the Santa Monica-UCLA
Medical Center. The RTC provides free medical care, counseling and
legal assistance to sexual assault victims and their families and
designs sexual assault prevention programs to be taught at high
schools and college campuses nationwide.

The 15 members come from a variety of arenas, including staff
from an array of UC campuses, Cal State campuses, community
colleges, private and independent colleges, and rape and trauma
treatment centers, Pasricha said.

The members of the task force do not receive a salary and do not
receive funding from the General Fund. The costs of the task force
are absorbed by the Office of Criminal Justice Planning.

Top Hungarian official travels to School of
Law

Jozef Szajer, vice president of the Hungarian Parliament, will
give a talk at the UCLA School of Law in room 1357, on Wednesday,
Aug. 20, at 3p.m.

The presentation titled, “A Constitution for
Europe?” is being put on by Professor Frances Olsen, who
taught at the international graduate university of the European
Union before joining the law faculty. Szajer should bring an
interesting perspective to the subject, since he is one of the
European Convention members responsible for drafting the European
Union’s new constitution.

With reports from Bruin staff and wire services.