It is a disheartening reality that sexual harassment and sexual violence are prevalent on college campuses, and Butler is certainly not immune to this. I’m truly saddened when I hear that any member of our community has suffered.
The safety and well-being of our students is, and always has been, our top priority. We work tirelessly to create an environment where our campus community is confident that reports of sexual harassment and sexual violence will be handled with professionalism, expediency, and sensitivity; an environment that acknowledges the magnitude of a personal decision to report sexual violence and be committed to removing any barriers to reporting. If we have failed one person in these efforts, we have failed our entire community.
We are aware that we can always better ourselves. In no area is this more important than sexual harassment and sexual violence. This is an ever-changing area that impacts so much of our campus community, and as a result, we must always look to improve.
One way of doing this is by listening to feedback from our campus community, as well as examining what other institutions are doing to address sexual violence on campus. We are always looking critically at our policies and programs to improve.
As part of our ongoing comprehensive approach to preventing sexual assault on campus, we remain committed, as always, to providing the necessary resources. This includes a Prevention Educator and Victim Resource Specialist who is available to members of the Butler campus community and whose contact information is listed on the back of every Butler issued ID card, engaging the Butler community in over 80 prevention, awareness and education activities, as well as partnering with community organizations such as Julian Center and ICESA, or the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault. For more information and an exhaustive list of resources, please visit https://www.butler.edu/respect.
It is our hope that through these efforts we can reduce the number of sexual assaults on our campus and foster a culture of compassion where every member of our community feels safe and supported.
