LHU awarded It’s On Us grant to combat sexual assault on campus

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Lock Haven University recently was one of 37 institutions of higher education to receive an It’s On Us PA grant of $21,000 to help combat sexual assault on campus. Gov. Tom Wolf established It’s On Us PA, the nation’s first statewide campaign, nearly five years ago and has made Pennsylvania a national leader in improving campus safety.

The grant will help LHU build off of their past initiatives in combating sexual violence on campus. According to Sherry Moore, associate director of human resources and deputy Title IX coordinator at LHU, the university hopes to increase mechanisms and capacity for reporting sexual assault, dating and domestic violence and stalking.

They also seek to develop and improve structures to make students aware of available resources, students’ rights and support for students who have experienced sexual violence.

“LHU has taken a strong stance on combatting sexual assault and violence on our campus and this grant will allow us to continue that important work to ensure the safety of all of our students,” said Dr. Robert Pignatello, LHU president.

LHU has had several successful speakers visit campus to discuss the topic of sexual violence. They have engaged the campus community and raised awareness of the resources available to students. Some of the past speakers and presentations include Elizabeth Smart, Sex Ed Boot Camp and Don McPherson.

“The past speakers have allowed us to draw awareness to sexual violence, prevention and our resources,” Moore said. “LHU is eager to continue this tradition with a pivot to a speaker from the social media realm such as TikToc or YouTube. These speakers will be relevant to our student population as well as allow us to have a larger social media presence.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the university has recently contracted with a company for a supplemental program of online modules to replace their live orientation. The modules launched in a limited capacity in January and will broaden for summer orientation in June.

“Orientation is when we set our base for healthy relationships, bystander awareness and address the issues of sexual assault on campus,” Moore said. “These programs will then transition into our freshman seminar programs and upperclassmen.”

“We’re grateful for the Governor’s continued support of the important work being done,” said George Rusczyk, associate director of student affairs. “The It’s On Us grant allows us to build on the momentum established at orientation and welcome week and continue it throughout the year with engaging speakers and events designed to keep the conversation moving forward.”

Rusczyk and Moore worked together to write the proposal for the It’s On Us grant.

LHU has participated in It’s On Us events for the last four years with multiple student organizations having been aligned with the programming efforts. Moore said they now intend to begin a chapter of It’s On Us at LHU to allow for the development of student leadership and student-to-student programming.

“The available funds for new student organizations through our Student Activities Fee has been extremely limited in the past several years and the COVID-19 pandemic has cut the remaining funding dramatically,” Moore said. “A small investment in student leadership will allow us to begin a new chapter of student-led awareness and support programming that will last for many years. The addition of students as active partners will allow the university to be more responsive to student needs as well as preferred types of programming. Students as active partners will allow us to increase awareness as well as collect additional data.”

The It’s On Us campaign is a national initiative to raise awareness about sexual assault; teaching participants that assault includes non-consensual sex, advising them on how to identify dangerous situations, empowering them to intervene and urging them to create an environment of support for victims and survivors.

For more about It’s On Us at LHU, visit https://www.lockhaven.edu/hr/titleix/itsonus.html.

For more information on Lock Haven University, visit www.lockhaven.edu, email admissions@lockhaven.edu, or call 570-484-2011.