Penn State is receiving a $60,000 dollar grant from the state to help prevent sexual assault, harassment and violence on campus.
Reporter Zac Kaye joins us live with more on what the university plans to do with that money
Penn State says that some of this grant will be used to address the risk factors and needs in regards to sexual assault among ‘underrepresented and minoritzed students.’ Representatives from the University tell me that these
students may have cultural barriers that discourage reporting these types of incidents
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center one in five women and one in sixteen men are sexually assaulted while in college.
Penn State says this grant will help them create videos related to reporting an incident to make it easier to understand the process.
Penn State’s Title Nine coordinator says quote
“Making these resources accessible and simple to navigate can be the difference between coming forward or simply trying to handle the situation on their own.”
State Representative Paul Takac was one of the people who worked to get this grant and announced it Tuesday. He talks about why he got involved.
“When you talk to someone who is a survivor of something like this it just, you can’t help but be motivated to do all you can to help prevent it from happening to someone else.”
Takac says that the grant is coming from the Department Of Education and more specifically the it’s on Pa Campaign. He talks about how these investments from the state will help every parent sleep a little better.
“As a parent, sending my own kids to a college campus, it’s something that keeps you up at night so I think everybody will be better off because of these kind of investments.”
The Penn State Police Department says that safety is the University’s number one priority.
They say Penn State has over ninety blue light emergency telephones across the University Park Campus. They also have a safe walk program that is available three hundred and sixty-five days a year.
