West Chester University Gets $16K To Fight Campus Sexual Assault

WEST CHESTER, PA — West Chester University has received a grant of $16,000 to help fight sexual assault on campus, local officials announced.

The state grant funding aims to empower men on campus to be "active bystanders" and to help change the sexual violence culture.

“First and foremost, institutions of higher education must be safe and healthy environments for learning,” State Sen. Andy Dinniman (D Chester) said in a statement. "Sexual assault and misconduct on campus cannot and will not be tolerated."

One in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted in college, according to statistics from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center

During the fall, the university will hold a speaker series on the subject, develop a print and social media campaign promoting violence prevention, and more. The athletic department and fraternity groups on campus will be partners in the project.

Nearby Immaculata University has received $28,000 in similar funding, officials said.

The funding comes from a program called It's on Us Pennsylvania, launched in 2016 to promote these types of activities fighting sexual abuse on campuses and spearheaded by President Obama.

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