NAESV Applauds Recommendations of White House Task Force to Protect Students

For Immediate Release: April 29, 2014 Contact: Monika Johnson Hostler, President, [email protected] For decades, advocates have been swimming against the tide to prevent sexual violence and offer support to survivors. The White House Task Force to Protect Students Against Sexual Assault created renewed hope that the highest levels of leadership in our nation were serious about addressing this entrenched and unpalatable social problem. The National Alliance to End Sexual Violence (NAESV) applauds the release of practical and visionary recommendations today by the Task Force to guide our nation in preventing and addressing sexual violence on campus, and the launch of the website NotAlone.gov. “Today, we have real reason to hope that change is coming and that the tides are turning on a national culture that has tolerated sexual violence on campus. We feel supported by an Administration that refuses to stand by while the dreams of so many young women are crushed by these traumatic experiences. We have more than words of sympathy to rely on here—we have real concrete action steps. Let’s roll up our sleeves and work to see them realized,” said Monika Johnson Hostler, President. NAESV commends the Administration for the range and depth of listening sessions that informed these recommendations. “The Task Force has galvanized the nation--policy makers, activists, students, administrators, advocates--to bring forward their ideas. The Administration has listened,” said Ms. Johnson Hostler. NAESV has long advocated for closer collaborations between universities, rape crisis centers and state sexual assault coalitions, and the Task Force has provided tools, including a sample memorandum of understanding, to foster these collaborations. Rape Crisis Centers are eager to bring their expertise in trauma-informed service provision, prevention, and training to the table to support universities in the work that lies ahead of them. Prevention efforts, appropriately including bystander intervention approaches, must be built on the experience of communities and prevention workers addressing the social norms that allow sexual violence to go unchecked.  

Ms. Johnson Hostler commented, “We are at the beginning of our concerted and collective work to end sexual violence on campus, but we have a firm foundation with these recommendation to support us.”

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The National Alliance to End Sexual Violence (NAESV) is the voice in Washington for state coalitions and local programs working to end sexual violence and support survivors.

 

Task Force Report: http://m.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/report_0.pdf