Addressing Campus Sexual Assault: AASCU’s Partnership with Culture of Respect

Yesterday, AASCU President Muriel Howard sent a message to AASCU Presidents describing a new AASCU partnership with an organization called Culture of Respect. This organization, which was founded by a group of concerned parents, is an independent, nonprofit organization. They have begun a very important dialogue with the higher education community. We believe this is an opportunity to effect change through a collaborative and transformative process, one that provides resources to all involved in campus sexual assault response and prevention.

Culture of Respect’s free nonprofit website portal illustrates various tools and resources that AASCU considers helpful to colleges and universities by providing an actionable framework. We encourage you to review its content. The value of our partnership is founded on the idea that sexual assault can be mitigated and eliminated on campuses by offering a unique, centralized non-profit resource with content that spans the field from talking points for parents to breaking down complex legal information for victims and colleges. Various aspects of the website are aligned to address all segments of the campus community including students, parents and staff. We encourage you to register at CultureofRespect.org to explore the depth and breadth of their tools and resources.

Their board of advisors includes:

• Jackie Cruz, Ed.M., Harvard Graduate School of Education;
• Laurie Hamre, VP of Student Affairs at Macalester College;
• Eric Hartman, Dean of Students, Sewanee, The University of the South;
• Charlotte H. Johnson, J.D., Vice President and Dean of Students at Scripps College;
• Martha Kanter, Former U.S. Undersecretary of Education;
• Karestan Koenan, sexual assault and PTSD expert and Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health;
• Dr. David Lisak, interpersonal violence expert;
• Maxwell Love, President of the United States Student Association (USSA);
• Diane Rosenfeld, LLM, Lecturer on Title IX and Director of the Gender Violence Program at Harvard Law School; and
• Kate Walsh, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

We hope that your campus or system will consider working with Culture of Respect as they get started. In addition, we ask that you share information about this web portal on your campus. We believe the work that they are doing is significant and will help mitigate and eliminate sexual assault on our campuses.

If you have additional questions about Culture of Respect please contact Makese Motley, AASCU’s Assistant Director of Federal Relations at motleym@aascu.org or 202-478-4652.