UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Panelists discussed the progress Penn State has made in sexual misconduct prevention and response and highlighted areas where more work needs to be done as they answered community questions on the subject during a virtual Town Hall hosted by Penn State President Eric Barron on Nov. 8.
The event provided updates on Penn State’s continuing efforts on combatting sexual assault and harassment, and answered the community’s questions and concerns about education, prevention, support and response efforts around sexual misconduct at the University. Campus community members were encouraged to submit questions anonymously ahead of the live Town Hall.
The recorded webcast has been archived and is now available for online viewing.
“Sexual assault, misconduct and harassment are complex national issues, especially on college campuses. There are no easy solutions to this issue, but our ambition is to always do better and continue to make progress,” Barron said at the start of the event. “Penn State is deeply committed to fostering and sustaining a safe and supportive campus environment and holding accountable those who violate this fundamental expectation.”
He also reiterated the University’s support for those affected. “For those who are survivors and victims, we encourage reporting, and offer a variety of resources to support you. I know that the decision to speak up is difficult. When you are ready, we have a caring and compassionate team who are here to help and guide you through this difficult time.”
Joining Barron for the discussion were staff and administrators from key offices, as well as a student from a campus organization focused on sexual misconduct:
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Suzanne Adair, associate vice president for affirmative action
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Stephanie Delaney, executive deputy chief, University Police and Public Safety
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Tamla Lewis, associate general counsel
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Danny Shaha, assistant vice president for Student Affairs
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Nora Van Horn, student in the Schreyer Honors College and member of the Schreyer Gender Equity Coalition
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Yvette Willson, interim director of the Gender Equity Center
Barron discussed how Penn State has worked to create an environment focused on safety and accountability, with emphasis on education and prevention programming; support for survivors; and serious University consequences for those who violate the rules and harm others.
Questions from the community covered a range of issues, including culture, why sexual misconduct continues despite efforts at prevention and education, what the University is doing to protect students, changes in the law, how Penn State supports victims and survivors, and how investigations are conducted.
“This is a complex issue nationally. It’s not just here at Penn State. It affects every college, every society, all over the country, all over the world,” said Willson. “We need impactful, relevant and ongoing education—evidence based—so we can learn by the experts that have done this in the past—what has worked and what will work going forward. But we also need a culture change, and that’s going to take time. There may never be a perfect solution for this, however, we do need our actions as we move forward to not just be on the response, but to be on the prevention, proactive education component.”
Van Horn spoke on the panel from the viewpoint of a Penn State student and shared several specific ideas about how she believed the University could continue to improve in sexual misconduct prevention.
“From the student perspective, sexual violence is a devastating issue. Of course students want to be involved in creating solutions, however, if students aren’t invited to participate in conversations about Penn State’s culture and policy, students will be prevented from contributing to real changes,” said Van Horn. “Students perceive, and rightly so, that sexual violence is a systemic and cultural issue. We can’t just expect students to just do programming and events.”
In an effort to engage students in the work of culture change, the University solicited student input on the forthcoming 2022 Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey through focus groups and an online feedback form. Students were asked to aid the University in considering the survey, its contents and what is being done with the data collected. Shaha noted that the University will be communicating to the Penn State community what changes will be made to the survey as a result of this feedback process.
The changing federal law landscape around sexual misconduct on college campuses was noted by several panelists and Lewis explained how Penn State is responding.
“The new Title IX regulations narrowed the definition of behaviors that fell under Title IX,” she said. “In response to that, we expanded our nondiscrimination policy under AD91 because, even if a sexual harassment case does not rise to the level of Title IX, we wanted to make sure that we had processes and procedures in place so we could still address those behaviors as well.”
Several panelists shared important resources available students and employees who are survivors of sexual assault.”
“We want to make sure that survivors and victims do not have to go through this alone,” said Delaney. “This is a very intimidating and hard process to report to anyone, let alone law enforcement. So please know that this is not something you have to go through alone and we will work with you step by step.”
“The Gender Equity Center as well as CAPS [Counseling and Psychological Services] are both confidential resources,” added Willson. “So if a student ever wants to know what are their options, what might something look like, whether it’s an educational process or a formal investigation or a criminal process, they can reach out to our office and we will go through those options with them, and then help them decide what is best for them.”
The topic of consent — what it is and what it isn’t — came up several times throughout the discussion.
“Many of the cases on our campuses are around the issue of consent. So we need to make sure that we are having that collective community conversation about that,” said Shaha. “Unless you know that you’re not under the influence and that the person you’re engaging with isn’t, then don’t assume you have consent. Be sure that you are 100% confident that you have knowing, clear, verbal consent before continuing to engage.”
Since becoming Penn State president in 2014, Barron has made addressing sexual misconduct a University priority and the panelists highlighted much of the progress the University has made in sexual misconduct prevention and response, however they agreed there is more to do at Penn State and nationally.
Barron established a sexual assault task force that returned with 18 recommendations — all of which were accepted by the president. Among the group’s top recommendations were the creation of a new Title IX coordinator position; the expectation that all Penn State employees be trained to understand their reporting and other obligations in response to sexual misconduct; the University-wide climate survey on sexual assault and harassment; implementation of an investigative model rather than a traditional hearing model for resolving these cases, and the development of increased education and bystander initiatives to prevent and respond to sexual assault and harassment.
“While we have made progress, it is clear from today’s discussion that there are areas that can be improved and there is much work left for us all to do,” Barron said. “This is a community who cares about each other and we will continue our efforts — together — to make Penn State a safe and supporting place for all.”