USC Report on Sexual Assaults
Rape, and particularly acquaintance rape, is a major concern on college campuses across America. For the past few years, the University of Southern California has instituted educational and preventive programs to address this problem on our own campus. In June, 1991, we decided to take a brave and unprecedented step: We invited an independent panel of outside experts in the area of sexual assault to evaluate our procedures and policies and tell us how we could do a better job. This committee of unpaid volunteers labored for a year on this issue and presented us with an excellent report. It was thorough, objective and immensely useful in helping identify specific ways we can do a better job in creating a safe and supportive environment for our students.
Unfortunately, your article (June 4) on this report did justice neither to the committee nor to the university. Here are some examples of major omissions:
* The committee devoted considerable space to the programs that are effective. Two examples among many: USC has one of the strongest alcohol abuse policies of any campus in the country, as well as rules to help prevent sexual assaults. The victim advocate program, which provides a highly trained person from the Office for Women’s Issues to assist victims, is widely perceived to be effective.
* The committee members were invited to present the report directly to the USC Board of Trustees, a signal of how seriously USC takes this issue and how determined it is to develop a model program for the nation’s universities.
* The story suggested that USC’s relationship with this panel was adversarial when in fact it was not. We asked for a critique and that’s what they gave us. We did not want sugar-coating.
I know of no university in America that has voluntarily initiated this kind of intensive scrutiny by experts in the field of sexual assault. I can think of no university that would have fared as well. Rather than distancing ourselves from this topic, we have taken it on directly. We think our students deserve that.
CORNELIUS J. PINGS, Provost, USC
