Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—April 21, 2014. In recognition of the 20th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the Department of Justice today announced a nationwide university tour by top administration officials to raise awareness of campus sexual assault. From April 23-May 1, senior officials from the Departments of Justice and Education will visit campuses across the country, including public and private universities, community colleges, historically black colleges and faith-based and tribal-affiliated institutions around the nation. Officials will speak with campus administrators, local law enforcement, community partners, local service providers and students about how best practices and lessons learned are playing out in areas such as prevention, public awareness and peer support. Visits will also highlight the role that federal, state and local government, working with university administrators, faculty and students, should play.
“The federal government is proud to partner with hundreds of campuses across our country to improve safety for students with comprehensive solutions to both prevent acts of violence and to support victim services,” said Bea Hanson, Principal Deputy Director of the Office on Violence Against Women. “The Campus Program is dedicated to building a future where domestic abuse, sexual assault, stalking and teen dating violence are eradicated.”
Each campus on the tour is a recipient of the department’s Office on Violence Against Women’s “Grants to Reduce Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence and Stalking on Campus Program.” The Campus Program funds institutions of higher education to adopt comprehensive responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, creating partnerships among campus entities and with community-based victim services organizations and criminal and civil justice agencies. Campus Program grantees must provide prevention programs for all incoming students; train campus law enforcement or security staff; educate campus judicial or disciplinary boards on the unique dynamics of these crimes; and create a coordinated community response to enhance victim assistance and safety while holding offenders accountable.
Since 1999, OVW has funded approximately 400 campus-based projects, totaling more than $139 million, to address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking on campuses.
Logistical details will be released closer to the event date. The list of the campus visits is below:
April 23, 2014
Associate Attorney General Tony West — North Carolina Central University (Durham, N.C.)
Principal Deputy Director, Office on Violence Against Women, Bea Hanson, Director, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Ronald L. Davis — St. John’s University (Queens, N.Y.)
April 24, 2014
Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole, Principal Deputy Director, Office on Violence Against Women, Bea Hanson, Senior Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, Becky L. Monroe — Gallaudet University (Washington, D.C.)
Associate Attorney General Tony West — Loyola University (Chicago, Ill.)
April 25, 2014
Associate Attorney General Tony West — United Tribes Technical College (Bismarck, N.D.)
Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels — University of Delaware (Newark, Del.)
April 29, 2014
Associate Director, Office on Violence Against Women, Darlene Johnson — William Paterson University (Wayne, N.J.)
April 30, 2014
Assistant Secretary, Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, Catherine E. Lhamon — University of California Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, Calif.)
Principal Deputy Director, Office on Violence Against Women, Bea Hanson — State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook (Stony Brook, N.Y.)
Associate Director, Office on Violence Against Women, Darlene Johnson — Bergen Community College (Paramus, N.J.)
May 1, 2014
Assistant Secretary, Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, Catherine E. Lhamon — California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Pomona, Calif.)
To learn more about the campus tour, please follow #SafetyonCampus through social media channels.
Source: justice.gov
