The University of Wisconsin System is stepping up efforts to decrease sexual violence through a new task force aimed at coordinating protection, prevention and outreach efforts across campuses.
The announcement of the UW System Task Force on Sexual Violence and Harassment comes a week after President Barack Obama began the “It’s On Us” campaign to stem sexual assaults on campuses. Tonya Schmidt, a UW assistant dean of students, said the task force was implemented in response to increased federal requirements.
UW System President Ray Cross said in a statement “ensuring that our campus communities are safe … is not an area for compromise.”
“While we believe our current approach is effective, fair, and respectful, we are always in the process of evaluating our policies and practices to strengthen them and ensure they continue to be effective and equitable,” Cross said. “This task force will further advance those efforts.”
Schmidt said the task force will provide better expertise on addressing student misconduct under UW System’s Chapter 17, a disciplinary procedure applied on every UW campus.
The task force will advise the UW System on best practices and prevention training, as well as improving partnerships on campus and creating a community focused on prevention, the UW statement said.
A system-wide approach can be really effective because it engages everyone in the movement and not just those affected directly, said Hannah Serwe, chair of Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment or PAVE.
“I hope that this campaign focuses on prevention because we need a culture change not just compliance with federal law,” Serwe said. “They way that’s going to happen is if they engage voices and expertise of victims, students, prevention professionals and victim advocacy agencies.”
At the task force’s first meeting, Schmidt said they began by breaking into groups and addressing ways to better comply with federal Title IX law that forbids discrimination based on gender in educational institutions. She said they are finding training methods to help faculty understand Title IX, which can be a challenge in larger campuses.
“One of the challenges we have especially at a campus like UW-Madison is we have a lot of employees who are considered responsible employees under Title,” Schmidt said. “All of these employees should know what to do if someone discloses a sexual assault to them, get them resources and report these things up the chain of command.”
The majority of sexual assault cases on college campuses go unreported, and Schmidt said the task force will address this by finding a way to better assess numbers on sexual assaults on campus.
Each of the 13 four-year universities are represented in the 19 member task force, the UW statement said. The UW System will also launch a website for students and faculty to find resources and check in on the task force’s work.
