Pictured Above: USF St. Petersburg’s new victim advocate, Aubrey Hall, is a USF Tampa graduate who hopes to “create a stable foundation for what advocacy looks like.”
Courtesy of Aubrey Hall
By Sophie Ojdanic
When Aubrey Hall was working in Student Health Services on the Tampa campus several years ago, a student told her she had been sexually assaulted the night before she had made a scheduling call to Hall.
“I was a Bull,” Hall said. “I never wanted another Bull to be harmed.”
That was one of the reasons that Hall left a job at a domestic and sexual violence center in Pasco County to become the victim advocate at the Wellness Center at USF St. Petersburg in July.
Hall becomes the third person to hold that job since the departure of Mandy Hines in June 2018.
Hall, a USF Tampa graduate, was born and raised in Tampa. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in women’s and gender studies and went on to work as a member of the prevention team at Sunrise of Pasco County for six years.
“I used to advocate on behalf of the community, and now I advocate within the community,” Hall said.
Hall said her job as a victim advocate is “everything that happens outside of your brain.”
She stressed that advocacy and counseling are separate, with advocacy assisting victims in finding accomodations.
“Advocates are a megaphone,” Hall said. “We make louder what (victims) are already saying.”
Before Hall was hired, more than 70 allegations of sexual misconduct rocked the Tampa campus.
The scandal prompted a letter of support for the alleged assault survivors penned by Diane Price-Herndl in Tampa’s Department of Women’s and Gender Studies and signed by 92 faculty and staff members.
“(At that time) I was not employed, but I was an alum,” Hall said. “I was sad. I’m very biased. Coming from a violence prevention and advocacy lens, I was not shocked. It could have been (the same) at any institution. I was just saddened.”
USF St. Petersburg has gone through a cycle of victim advocates since the departure of Hines, who worked as victim advocate from 2006 to June 2018. Later that month, Sara Spowart was brought on. She resigned in July 2018 due to health issues. Three months later, Shayna Marlowe was brought on, but she left the job in December 2018.
Since then, the Wellness Center has not had a victim advocate.
Hall has been employed by the university for nine weeks, and went through her first Title IX advisers training with the university on Sept. 17.
Hall called her goals for the victim advocate position “broad and lofty.”
She hopes to “create a stable foundation for what advocacy looks like,” she said.
“As a single advocate, I’d like to work closely with Tampa and bring over and replicate resources here,” Hall said. “I want to create a community of care and a network of support.”
According to Hall, she has already started to collaborate with USF’s other two campuses on events and marketing.
Outside of the victim advocate position, Hall hopes to earn her doctorate and “survive COVID,” and “support the campus in sustaining during the pandemic.”
Hall, who has taken up keeping succulents as a hobby, also hopes to “make sure my plants stay alive.”
Although she is working remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hall emphasized that she is still available to students.
“Advocacy services are available even while not on campus,” Hall said. “You can call the Wellness Center, my direct line, or email me. We are directly here for you.”
USF St. Petersburg students looking for help can use the following resources:
The Wellness Center at 727-873-4422
Victim advocate Aubrey Hall at Option 4 on the Wellness Center line, or at ahall4@usf.edu.
Suncoast 24/7 Rape Crisis Hotline at 727-530-7273
CASA Domestic Violence Advocacy and Counseling at 727-895-4912
Victim Assistance from St. Petersburg police at 727-892-5280 or 727-892-5128
University Police at 727-873-4444
