A Call to Action for College and University Presidents, Chancellors, and Senior Administrators: Step Up on Sexual Assault

Calls on college and university presidents, chancellors, and senior administrators to address sexual assault on their campuses. The blog post outlines current statistics, talks about the progress that has been made, and makes a request for more improvements. The Vice President links to a guide specifically to help school leadership develop plans for addressing sexual assault on campus and suggests specific steps, like:

• Send a clear message to students, faculty, administrators, coaches, and campus safety personnel that sexual misconduct will not be tolerated and survivors must be supported; 
• Conduct a campus climate survey to understand the scope of the problem on campus; and
• Train all students — during orientation and via “booster shots” throughout their college education — about consent, relationship violence, sexual misconduct, stalking, and bystander intervention, where to find resources for help, and where to file complaints. Special attention should be paid to certain areas, such as athletics and Greek life, which have historically been sites of sexual violence at many institutions of higher education.