Dear Virginia Tech community,

The Office for Equity and Accessibility is now the Office for Civil Rights Compliance and Prevention Education (CRCPE). This new name better aligns with the work that we do and the mission of the university, remaining focused on ensuring that Virginia Tech is a welcoming and safe place for all faculty, staff, and students. 

Each year presents distinctive challenges and opportunities for any university’s efforts toward building a safe and inclusive culture. In Virginia Tech’s CRCPE, we are positioned not only to respond in difficult moments but also to enable progress on our path to an environment free of barriers to equal opportunity in education and employment. We approach our charge with care, commitment to our core values, and the understanding that our work has ripple effects well beyond the university.

Our goals in 2023-24 goals for the Office for Equity and Accessibility were to expand access to our resources, increase education and outreach initiatives, develop sustainable models for gender-based violence prevention, and further improve campus accessibility. I am encouraged by our team’s achievements, including but not limited to:

  • Establishing the Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Department and hiring our inaugural director, Jenn Wiggins
  • Gaining acceptance into the National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine Action Collaborative to strengthen our structures for preventing and responding to sexual harassment in academia
  • Hosting a networking conference for equal opportunity and civil rights leaders at Virginia higher education institutions
  • Designing a new, on-demand civil rights and Title IX compliance training program for employees.
  • Implementing new processes establishing CRCPE as the central point for reporting and responding to student-to-student allegations of discrimination and harassment and implementing multiple efforts to raise awareness of these new procedures

We are grateful for continued collaboration and engagement with our institutional partners and colleagues in Student Affairs, Services for Students with Disabilities, Human Resources, Faculty Affairs, the Women’s Center, Inclusive Strategy and Excellence, Facilities, Information Technology, Technology-enhanced Learning and Online Strategies, Communications and Marketing, and others.

Fostering a culture of belonging and respect has its complexities. Together, through our daily work, we find ways to overcome the challenges and create space for every individual to feel valued. 

We offer the following annual report to illustrate this significant work and document trends from the 2023-24 year. With the exception of the affirmative action and search exemption information, which is based on the federal fiscal year of Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024, the data in this report reflects the academic year from Aug. 1, 2023, to July 31, 2024.

In sharing this view of our current campus climate, I look forward to the new ways the community will combine efforts to create a more equitable and accessible Virginia Tech– free from harassment and discrimination– where all employees and students can thrive in the years to come.

Sincerely,

Kelly Oaks,
Associate Vice President
Office for Civil Rights Compliance and Prevention Education

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