The U.S. Justice Department has awarded a $200,000 grant to the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center (SAPAC). It will be used to help focus SAPAC’s efforts to serve students living in residence halls and family housing, says the center’s director, Kelly Cichy.

The grant was awarded under a Justice Department program, Campus Grants to Combat Violence Against Women on College Campuses.

“This grant will fund what we’ve called the U-M Violence Prevention Project,” Cichy says. “Our idea is to bring together a diverse group of project partners on and off campus to create a coordinated response to violence against women tailored to students living on campus.”

Community partners include the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office and the community service provider Domestic Violence Project/SAFE House, Cichy says.

“These agencies will join campus units providing direct services for victims, along with education, housing, law enforcement units and the Office of Student Conflict Resolution [OSCR].”

A unique aspect of the project, Cichy says, is that it takes into account the various family and cultural norms of international students, especially among the residents of family housing.

“There are situations, for instance, where even acknowledging sexual violence goes against the culture. We will appropriately tailor our programs with these considerations in mind,” Cichy says.

E. Royster Harper, vice president for student affairs, says the new grant-funded project will play a major role in the University’s efforts to expand and enhance sexual assault prevention and awareness services to all
U-M students.

“Bringing key community agencies into the mix is so important,” Harper says. “We have good relationships with these folks already, but this project will solidify those relationships as together we seek to address the societal problem of sexual violence against women as it plays out in our communities.”

Other aspects of the grant-funded project include:

• Implementing a mandate from President Mary Sue Coleman to create a mandatory education program on sexual violence for all incoming students in collaboration with University Housing Residence Education;

• Adding the input of the Prosecutor’s Office and Domestic Violence Project/SAFE House to long-established training for Department of Public Safety officers and other campus units;

• Strengthening the current training on sexual violence issues provided to all disciplinary panel members collaboratively by SAPAC and OSCR.

For more information on the grant or the services provided by SAPAC, contact Cichy at (734) 998-9368 or kcichy@umich.edu, or visit http://www.umich.edu/~sapac/.