Tempe USG President Cassidy Possehl says her opening address at the second regular session at the Tempe USG meeting on Aug. 26, 2014. (Photo by Shiva Balasubramanian)
The White House started a campaign on Friday named "It's on Us," to combat sexual assault on college campuses, and ASU is one of approximately 200 colleges and universities enlisitng support for the program.
Tempe USG President Cassidy Possehl began a Sexual Safety Committee with seven members to respond to the issue of sexual safety on the ASU campus.
"We've been planning on doing this since meeting over the summer because of the issues ASU has had with Title IX," Possehl said.
During the spring 2014 semester, ASU came under fire for Title IX violations due to professor misconduct.
"We want to address some of these issues the University is having with Title IX and support faculty and staff endeavors towards sexual safety on campus as well," Possehl said.
The Sexual Safety Committee is working on the same basic premise as the "It's On Us" campaign, and the committee will work to make sure the University is current on what is happening around the country.
"I have put in calls with campus leaders and have been in contact with higher administration at the White House about these issues and signed ASU up for the 'It's On Us' campaign," Possehl said.
Tempe USG Senator Yagna Madala said the biggest goal of the committee is to provide students with a range of tools to promote sexual safety.
"We want to let students know what rape culture is and help them to recognize when someone is posing a threat and if people are more aware, then people can feel more comfortable talking about it," she said.
One of the main points for the committee is to encourage people to feel comfortable to report these issues, Madala said.
Director of University Affairs Nicole Reed said the committee wants students to be aware that sexual assault happens.
"We want students to know the facts and the committee is really an educational committee to help inform the students," she said.
The committee will be sponsoring events in the coming weeks to inform the students about sexual safety and will offer different activities to support the issue.
"We are looking to highlight self-defense and are bringing in people who have experience with campus-style defense classes which will be both male-centric and female-centric," Possehl said.
Possehl will be speaking to the faculty senate about an amendment to stop issues that are violations of Title IX in October.
"The amendment will be to stop faculty and staff from having personal contact with students, and any member involved in this activity should be fired immediately," she said.
Possehl will also be working with other campus presidents to bring the issue to other ASU campuses and help promote the growing issue of sexual safety.
"This problem has moved far from ASU and is being seen more around the country and even worldwide, and we can do something about it," Possehl said.
Reach the reporter at jshanco2@asu.edu or follow on Twitter @joey_hancock
