Sexual assault prevention 
program works to change 
campus culture

In just more than a year of operation, the Prevention, 

Outreach and Education Department is focusing 

cultural change at Michigan State University around 

relationship violence and sexual misconduct prevention.

In 2018 the department was created on the 

recommendation of the university’
s Relationship 

Violence and Sexual Misconduct Expert Advisory 

Workgroup to educate the campus community on 

preventing RVSM and other violence; empower 

staff, faculty and students to become advocates 

for a nonviolent community; and positively affect 

cultural change.

The department has made significant strides in 

accomplishing these goals by providing customized 

in-person training and online learning to more than 

72,000 campus community members, according to its 

first annual report.

“This team is extremely passionate about the work 

that they do, and it shows in their consistent efforts,” 

says Robert Kent, the associate vice president leading 

MSU’
s Office for Civil Rights and Title IX Education and 

Compliance, which houses POE and also sponsors 

MSU’
s Know More sexual assault awareness campaign. 

Growing from one designated prevention staffer in 

the Department of Student Life, POE now includes 

seven full-time prevention specialists, a director and 

associate director and more than 100 peer educators 

who partner with campus units to provide educational 

programming for employees and students. Some of 

the programs include:

• Prevention programming for first- and second-year 

students

• Online prevention education for third- and fourth-

year students, graduate students and employees

• Greeks Take the Lead prevention programming for 

fraternity and sorority members

• Spartans Against Violence prevention programming 

for student-athletes and athletic staff

• Faculty/staff and 

graduate/professional 

student outreach and 

education

• Campus climate and 

response programs

 

POE this year hosted the 

first Creating Change 

through Collaboration 

Summit for MSU faculty, 

staff and graduate 

students to discuss the 

impact of sexual assault 

and violence and how 

to address relationship 

violence and sexual 

misconduct issues within 

their respective programs.

The department also partnered with multiple student 

organizations to facilitate “It’
s On Us” weeks of action 

in the fall and spring. This series of events creates 

awareness around RVSM issues and is held during 

Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Awareness 

months in April and October.

In July, MSU hosted the Big Ten gender-based 

violence gathering, an event that brings prevention 

and survivor service providers from multiple Big 

Ten institutions together to share best practices, 

challenges and ideas for programming. 

Learn more at poe.msu.edu. e 

MSU earns gold rating for 
sustainability achievements
 

Michigan State University has received a gold rating 

for its sustainability achievements from the leading 

association for the advancement of sustainability in 

higher education.

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability 

in Higher Education — an American-based 

certification organization — provides a framework to 

measure sustainability efforts within higher education 

institutions. This Sustainability Tracking and Rating 

System, or STARS, is the most widely recognized 

framework in the world for publicly reporting 

comprehensive information related to a college or 

university’
s sustainability performance. Participants 

report achievements in five overall areas: academics; 

engagement; operations; planning and administration; 

and innovation and leadership.

This is MSU’
s third triennial report and the first time it 

has achieved the gold rating, up from silver. 

“The AASHE STARS tool provides us a consistent 

methodology to see the comprehensive impact 

and growth of our sustainability programs. It also 

identifies new opportunities and gives us the ability 

to benchmark other universities for best practices. 

It has been exciting to work with such a broad 

representation of the MSU community and be able 

to tell the great stories of how MSU has embedded 

sustainability into its core mission,” says Amy Butler, 

campus sustainability director. 

MSU jumped 14% in the AASHE STARS system, 

achieving a 70.86% and becoming one of three 

gold-rated institutions in Michigan.

Areas of improvement for MSU from previous reports 

were highest in academics, where the university 

improved by more than a dozen points to achieve 

an 86%. This is a result of MSU’
s holistic approach 

to undergraduate education, where all students 

are exposed to sustainability concepts through 

interdisciplinary course work, research and 

continuing education. 

The university also achieved an 86% in the 

engagement category, demonstrating MSU’
s 

commitment to the campus and wider communities.

The report also features other innovations, including 

MSU’
s installation of the largest solar carport array in 

North America. e 

MSU Prevention, Outreach and Education Department

BY THE NUMBERS

23,835

48,329

2,195

877
1 1 
+

people, overall, completed online 
and/or in-person RVSM training

people completed online training

additional Athletics Department
in-person trainings completed

faculty/staff completed additional
in-person training

people completed in-person training

full-time 
staff
peer 
educators
00
0

72, 64
1

Mara Spears (left) and Amy Butler (right), of MSU’s Office
of Sustainability

MSU_DJNinsert_sept2019.indd 2

