Membership in Action Collaborative marks milestone for sexual violence prevention work
The peer network is dedicated to making higher education a safer environment in which to work and learn.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has accepted Virginia Tech into the Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education.
Membership in the organization offers collaborative opportunities with peers seeking to address and prevent sexual harassment in higher education and will support the university’s goals to prevent sexual harassment and violence.
“Actively participating in this network ensures our response is evidence-based and anticipates cultural changes on our campuses,” said President Tim Sands. “It is also an opportunity to share our own knowledge and research and inform action that reduces sexual violence in the international academic landscape.”
Commitment to systemwide change
Action Collaborative is a group of over 50 higher education institutions all driven toward the same goal: to proactively address and prevent sexual harassment across disciplines. Since 2019, the group has informed policy changes, released a series of publications, and developed a first-in-its-kind resource repository for the industry.
Admitted members share a public commitment to:
- Facilitate and inform action on preventing and addressing sexual harassment
- Share and elevate evidence-based policies and strategies for reducing and preventing sexual harassment
- Advance research on sexual harassment prevention and gather and apply research results across institutions
- Raise awareness about sexual harassment and its consequences and motivate action to address and prevent it
- Assess progress in higher education toward reducing and preventing sexual harassment in higher education
The work is guided by the National Academies’ 2018 Sexual Harassment of Women report, which provides a roadmap for pursuing institutional changes that curtail sexual harassment in higher education institutions.
Continuing the work
Admittance into the Action Collaborative is the latest step to advance a framework for sustainable climate and cultural transformation at Virginia Tech.
In 2021, Sands charged the Sexual Violence Culture and Climate Work Group to develop a new framework for how Virginia Tech addresses cases of sexual violence and ways to proactively prevent it. the work gorup and its subcommittees developed a foundation of resources, programs, and assessment tools over two years, including a centralized hub for sexual violence support, SAFE at VT.
Last fall, the Sexual Violence Prevention Initiative was formed to continue the work with a concentrated effort around sexual violence prevention. Relying on input from students, faculty experts, and facilitators of current programming, a steering committee is preparing a strategic plan for review by university leadership.
Tapping into a global network
As a member of the Action Collective, Virginia Tech will tap into the combined expertise and resources of other universities engaged in sexual violence prevention work, each with its own subject matter experts. But most importantly, participation will spark collaboration with peers who understand the culture, structure, and needs of college campuses.
Virginia Tech’s representatives who will co-lead campus efforts in support of this collaboration are:
- Kelly Oaks, associate vice president for equity and accessibility and program leader of the Sexual Violence Prevention Initiative
- Barbara Lockee, associate vice provost for faculty affairs
Katie Polidoro, director of Title IX Compliance/Title IX Coordinator and an Initiative committee member, will serve in the Action Collaborative’s Response Working Group.
“Joining the Action Collaborative allows us to be a part of the critical national conversation about sexual harassment in higher education. We’ll learn about and contribute to evidence-based practices and policy development to support respectful and inclusive educational environments for all,” said Lockee.
“Sexual harassment impedes our ability to meet our goal to create a respectful climate at Virginia Tech and has no place on our campus,” said Oaks. “Working with other colleges and universities to develop collective strategies to address sexual harassment on our campuses presents an opportunity for true culture change.”
