Michigan State University has launched a campaign to grow awareness within its community members affected by sexual violence and misconduct about the resources available to them.
The “Know More” campaign will educate the university students, staff, and faculty about the support and reporting mechanism available on- and off-campus for relationship violence and sexual misconduct.
The campaign comes in the wake of revelations made by survivors about university physician Larry Nassar.
“In the wake of the horrific revelations stemming from the trial of Larry Nassar and the survivors’ testimony prior to his sentencing, MSU has responded in an unprecedented way,” said Rob Kent, interim director of the MSU Office of Civil Rights.
“While healing for survivors — and for the campus community — might come slowly, the university recognized that immediate and ongoing action is needed to improve and promote its policies, procedures and the culture surrounding relationship violence and sexual misconduct and its reporting.”
The latest initiative is part of the university’s campaign to curb incidents of sexual violence on campus. The school has provided sexual assault and relationship violence prevention and reporting training to nearly 99 percent of 53,000 students and more than 98 percent of its employees in 2017-2018.
The university believes that the campaign will empower students with more information about their rights and available resources.
The Know More campaign visibly acknowledges the existence of relationship violence and sexual misconduct and normalizes and validates resources and options available to trauma survivors,” Tana Fedewa, director of the MSU Sexual Assault Program, said. “My hope is that the Know More campaign will reduce stigma and increase help-seeking for those impacted by relationship violence and sexual misconduct.”
