EAST LANSING, Mich. — To help students, faculty and staff better understand and identify sexual assault on campus, MSU’s Office for Inclusion is launching a new campaign that will dispel common myths and raise awareness of a crisis that affects 1 in 5 college women.
The initiative, “There’s No Excuse for Sexual Assault,” was unveiled Feb. 22 during a campus symposium for administrators, faculty, staff and student groups focused on preventing sexual assault.
“While MSU has policies and educational programs currently in place, this is one more step in heightening the awareness of MSU’s commitment to student safety and understanding the impact of sexual assault,” said Paulette Granberry Russell, director of MSU’s Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives.
“MSU takes very seriously its obligation to provide all students with an educational environment free from gender discrimination, including sexual harassment and sexual violence.”
Outreach for the campaign includes posters, T-shirts, buttons, social media pages and a website at sexualassault.msu.edu.
In addition to the campaign, recent efforts to raise awareness of and address sexual assault include revised Student Disciplinary Hearing procedures, development of the Title IX Coordinated Response Team, identifying and training sexual harassment policy liaisons for each campus unit and creating a new digital learning program (SAFE) that helps incoming students understand the realities of sexual assault on campus.
Nationwide, 1 in 5 women experience some form of sexual assault in college, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Additionally, in 80 to 90 percent of cases, the victim and assailant know each other.
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Michigan State University has been working to advance the common good in uncommon ways for more than 150 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU focuses its vast resources on creating solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.