The UW System is joining a national effort to prevent sexual harassment in higher education.
It’s signing on with more than two dozen other institutions to form the Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education.
“Our interest in joining the Action Collaborative as a founding member reflects our ongoing dedication to addressing the disturbing and persistent problems of sexual harassment and sexual violence in our society, and to identify and implement real, tangible approaches to continue tackling these challenges across higher education,” said UW System President Ray Cross.
The collaborative effort intends to raise awareness about sexual harassment, share evidence-based policies and strategies to reduce and prevent harassment, contribute to research and develop a standard of mesauring progress.
“This has affected faculty and staff and students for way too long,” said Cross.
The announcement made Wednesday on the campus of UW-Milwaukee comes a little over a month since a UW-Milwaukee professor was accused of sexually assaulting a student.
“This is intolerable,” said UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone. “This type of victimization is unacceptable. We have a zero-tolerance policy for anybody. We need to make people understand here’s how serious the campus is in respect to responding quickly, both on the investigation front and taking action based on those investigations.”
In addition to President Cross, all 13 chancellors of the UW System schools signed separate letters of committment ot the goals of the Action Collaborative.