Campus Safety, Advocacy, and a Department of Justice Grant
In the past few months, the news has been rife with stories
exposing numerous high-profile sexual predators. In higher education, the Jaeger case
at the University of Rochester has been a particularly cautionary example of
the dangers of complacency.
The benefit of the media coverage is that it has cultivated
courage among more and more victims to speak up and ultimately bring an end to
the predations of those who have victimized them. More importantly, recent
events have provoked important public conversations that strive to eliminate
tolerance for these unethical behaviors, which should lead to safer and more
respectful professional environments.
The increased attention is new, sadly, the problem is not. The Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission's Select Task
Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace reported that, “Almost
fully one third of the approximately 90,000 charges received by EEOC in fiscal
year 2015 included an allegation of workplace harassment.”
This is an area where higher education has made important,
although not always successful efforts. Following the “Dear Colleague” letter
of 2011, our institutions implemented much more sophisticated Title IX
procedures aimed not only at responding to complaints of sexual harassment and
assault, but through expanded reporting requirements that revealed patterns of
malicious behavior, our institutions greatly improved their prevention efforts.
Many of higher education’s most egregious cases of harassment and
abuse have been brought to light through these more stringent processes, and
had these protections been implemented earlier, many individuals would have
been spared victimization.
Earlier this year, the White House rescinded the 2011 “Dear
Colleague” letter, but Susquehanna and many other colleges and universities
have committed to hold themselves to a higher standard than this recent change
requires. The safety of our students and employees cannot be compromised.
It is my hope that all institutions of higher education will continue
to embrace this rigor of protection for the members of their communities.
Ideally, all employers will uphold these same standards so our graduates will
enter similarly responsible and responsive work places.
In an ongoing effort to
bolster our own efforts on campus, we have secured a Department of Justice Office of
Violence Against Women Grant. This grant supports a
three-year implementation of expanded education for all incoming students, the creation
of a coördinated community response system between the University and external
organizations, enhanced training of our campus safety officers, and training
for campus disciplinary boards to respond most effectively to situations
involving sexual assault, relationship violence, and stalking.
This is a very competitive
grant. We are
grateful for this support from the DOJ, which will enable us to better prepare
our students to exercise their citizen leadership as ethical and practical
advocates of best practice in their workplaces and communities.
