Showing its concern for sexual misconduct and assault on campuses across the country, Harvard University has announced new initiatives to improve its response to such cases.
The initiative, rolled out by Harvard’s Title IX office, aims to prevent and respond to gender and sexual-based harassments.
To engage students in educating their peers about the Title IX policies, the university has set up a student liaison committee and launched a bystander intervention program training program.
The university will also hire an education program manager to head and expand on its training efforts and develop a new online training program for the university faculty and staff including the Title IX liaison committees.
“Our fundamental goal is to be a leader in a culture shift around sexual and gender-based harassment on America’s campuses, by elevating and enhancing the work we are already doing here at Harvard,” University’s Title IX officer Nicole Merhill said.
“We continue to strive to provide outreach, education, and prevention on a broader scale, while giving a greater voice to those who matter the most: the members of our community.”
The latest efforts have garnered the support of more than 50 Title IX coordinators University-wide, which is up from 35 in 2014.
The university in coordination with the American Association for Universities has also announced to gather data on the state of the environment on the campus from next spring.