According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, a college with 10,000 students could experience as many as 350 rapes per year.

Cornell University, which had 14,000 students in 2011, decided to do something to protect itself from living out this statistic.

Last September, Cornell formed a student-faculty council called the Council on Sexual Violence Prevention to help advise the Executive Committee on Campus, Climate and Health on how to maintain a safe campus environment, according to a Jan. 19 article by the Huffington Post.

The council met for the first time during the fall 2013 semester and has discussed establishing a sexual violence prevention center, according to the article.

Cornell also updated its policy in spring of 2012 to the “preponderance of evidence” standard. This makes it easier for victims to report incidents because allegations are considered to be “more likely than not” true, according to the article.

The changes in Cornell’s assault policies are occurring “in the wake of issues that arose last semester,” said Cornell president David Skorton in a February 2013 statement.

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights conducted investigations at several colleges throughout the United States, including University of North Carolina and Yale University, in response to students’ claims. Cornell is not one of the universities under investigation.

“We now need to lower the likelihood of such incidents occurring by making a deliberate commitment in how we operate to prevent sexual misconduct and all forms of bias and by focusing on how we treat each other,” Skorton said in his Feb. letter.

Because Cornell’s initiative is a cross-campus effort, Susan Murphy, vice president for community services and co-chair of the CSVP, said the university will work to help create a safer campus.

“By including students, faculty, staff and partners from the Ithaca community, the council will bring a community perspective to these concerns, increasing the likely impact and success of any initiatives we undertake,” she said.

“Our aim is to make sure the campus remains a safe and respectful academic and workplace environment focused on education,” said Mary Opperman, vice president of Cornell’s human resources and safety services and one of the co-chairs of the CSVP, in a Nov. 11 University press release regarding the council.

Said Opperman: “We not only have a commitment to raise awareness for faculty, staff and students around bias reporting, but also we have a responsibility to educate the Cornell community on how to create an inclusive and welcoming environment.”

Published on January 23, 2014 at 1:37 am

Contact: clmoran@syr.edu