By Hanifah Jones
Staff writer
Susquehanna was awarded a grant from the U.S Department of Justice, making strides towards victim services, prevention, education, and policies regarding sexual misconduct on campus.
In October 2017, Susquehanna was awarded a three-year $300,000 grant by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Violence Against Women Grant.
“Essentially, over the course of the next three years Susquehanna [will be] using grant funding to focus specifically on providing additional and improving services that we were already offering to survivors of relationship violence, sexual violence or stalking,” said Christiana Paradis, Office of Violence Against Women Program Coordinator.
The grant is divided into three parts. The first year is for planning, the second year is for implementation and the third year is for sustainability.
One of the criteria for the DOJ Grant is the establishment of a Coordinated Community Response Team (CCRT). The CCRT is composed of faculty and staff from various departments including Public Safety, Student Life and the Counseling Center. As well as members of the local community such as the Selinsgrove police department, representatives from Transitions of PA, a victim’s services center and a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) from Evangelical Community Hospital. According to Paradis, Susquehanna’s team has about 19 members. 
SU MAKES STRIDES— Susquehanna established the Violence, Intervention and Prevention Center in the lower level of the Blough Weis library as part of the DOJ grant initiative. (The Quill/Alyssa Gehris)
The Assistant Dean for Diversi- ty and Inclusion, Dena Salerno, is a member of the CCRT and is also the interim Title IX Coordinator. Salerno said there has been work on solidifying policies around sexual misconduct and violence prevention.
The CCRT is divided into four subcommittees which focus on Conduct, Law Enforcement, Prevention and Victim/ Survivor Services.
According to Paradis, the conduct reports will continue to be released in order to keep the campus aware of what is happening.
There is also a Student Advisory Committee that works with the CCRT to guarantee that student voices are being heard. The committee is currently composed of twelve Susquehanna students with diverse backgrounds who are involved in various activities across campus.
“I joined the Student Advisory Board because I want to do everything I can to make Susquehanna a better place for the students that are hear now and the future students,” senior Angelina Poole said. “The work that will be able to be done on campus with the DOJ Grant is absolutely going to make a difference and I want to be a part of that change.”
According to Paradis, the offices have been working to review service provided for survivors, build upon prevention being offered, taking a look at public safety’s protocols and making sure these resources are accessible.
Sexual assault and violence are epidemics that are impacting college campuses across the world.
According to Susquehanna’s FY2016 Clery Crime Statistics, there were twenty reported sex offenses and nine occurrences of reported dating violence between 2014 and 2016.
“One of the things that really important to me is that we focus on preventing violence before it starts and a lot of proactive programming.”
The establishment of the Violence, Intervention and Prevention Center on campus is part of this initiate. Located in the lower level of the library, the center has various resources including a representative from the Transitions center.
“We will be doing a lot of bystander intervention [and] monthly forum in the VIP Center about navigating relationships and things that come up in relationships that are difficult to talk about,” Paradis said. “Things like conflict resolution, relationship labels and also things like coming out in a relationship and interfaith dating or interracial dating.”
“One of our hopes is that there’s going to be more preventative things happening on campus, consistently. Also, that people know their duty to report.” Salerno said.
“We all have a role in protecting one another and looking out for one another,” Paradis said.
If a student is interested in joining the Student Advisory Committee they can contact Christiana Paradis at paradis@ susqu.edu. The National Sexual Assault Hotline is 1-800- 656-4673