Effective Sexual Assault Prevention Efforts Start at the Top

Colleges and universities have been marshaling forces across campus in the fight against sexual violence. From Title IX coordinators to student affairs professionals and students themselves, a coordinated approach is necessary to effect culture change and mount an effective prevention and response campaign. To ensure a consistent message, accountability, and measurable results, it is imperative that presidents lead the charge.

To find out how this top-down approach can increase odds of success, UE talked to Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C. McGuire has taken on Title IX compliance and sexual assault and harassment with caring determination and an understanding of the public and federal scrutiny that higher education faces today.

Creating a Safe Haven in the Nation’s Capital

“Trinity has always maintained a high level of awareness and proactive institutional policy and behavior for the protection of women,” said Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C. “Also as a Catholic college, we have always maintained certain standards for our Residence Life programs and our student conduct that I think is very different from many other institutions.” For example:

• Drinking is not allowed on campus
• Only women live on campus, and visiting hours for guests—male or female—are enforced
• There are no fraternities or sororities

“We are certainly aware that, even in a single gender environment, there can be sexual assaults perpetrated one gender on another, or even same gender,” McGuire said. “But we have not had the kind of incident on this campus that other colleges have. I do not want such an incident. I create a very strong tone from the top that this is something that would be completely unacceptable here.”

Trinity’s sexual assault prevention approach stems from a strong policy against all forms of harassment. “If you stop harassment at a basic level, then you have laid the foundation to prevent more serious forms of assault. Through the harassment policy, we have brought students up on charges if they are inappropriate with each other whether in person or online,” McGuire said. “I believe consistency in the application of all policies and attending to not only the worst case scenario but also the total environment of the campus has helped us to maintain a very safe environment.”

All cases reported to Trinity’s Title IX coordinator have been domestic violence incidents in students’ off-campus homes. “Our student body is 85 percent Pell Grant eligible. Our median family income is about $25,000 dollars a year. There is very little in the current [national sexual assault prevention] discussion that pays attention to the plight of low-income women of color in the city. Much of the political rhetoric…is all about more privileged women who live on campus. That is important. But it is not the end all and be all,” McGuire said.

“I certainly make it my personal business…to make sure that we are in compliance with Title IX and the Violence Against Women Act. But it goes beyond compliance. This is mission driven for us as a Catholic women's college. We do not ever want to be in a position where we would have something horrible happen to one of our students,” she said.

“There’s an implication out there that, absent a cudgel from Congress or the Department of Education, [higher ed institutions] don’t care. That is totally wrong. We care very much,” McGuire said. “It is well beyond what Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand or Arne Duncan wants. It is what I want. It is what we want. It is what I am responsible for. I think many college presidents would say that.”

It is important for institutions to balance the desire to protect victims with the rights of the accused. “The question always is how we can do the right thing in a way that is also legally sane. That has been a difficult topic in this whole discussion,” McGuire said.

“Those of us who absolutely believe that we cannot tolerate a climate that would permit sexual assault to occur have to be more outspoken. I have made that clear,” said McGuire, who has written opinion articles about sexual assault prevention and response in The Huffington Post and The Washington Post. “Now, I know when I have said to some of my colleagues in higher education that we solve that with a pretty strict campus environment they just roll their eyes. They say that would never ever be possible on their campuses. That may be true. But I think a piece of this whole issue is we lost control of managing the campus environment somewhere along the line.”

Colleges and universities should stop treating sexual assault as a secret or embarrassing topic, she said. “We have to be very clear that we would never protect the perpetrator. We have to respect the rights of the accused. But the reason why colleges are in trouble is too many notorious perpetrators have been protected. This gets into how deans behave. How adjudication processes go on. What presidents say and do. We are role models. We have to put the values in the right place,” McGuire said. “It does not mean we are the judge and jury. But we have to be clear that if any assault arises, we will be swift and stern in the consequences. I think we need to be willing to say to the accused where the evidence is pretty clear that there is guilt, ‘See you in court.’”

Presidents should be personally invested in what is going on across campus, no matter the size. “Because at the end of the day, your reputation is all you have. If you allow a horrible thing to occur and you do not exert leadership to address it swiftly, honestly, and in the public eye, your reputation is destroyed,” McGuire said.

“The regulatory climate is intended to protect students. I do think there still is time for campuses to reclaim the moral high ground on this topic,” she said. “Until presidents and boards demonstrate that we are serious about cleaning up our campuses, we are going to have Congress and the Department of Education making the rules for us.”

By Julie Britt, UE communications associate