Franklin & Marshall College is receiving a $39,330 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to combat sexual assault and violence.
As part of the statewide It’s On Us PA campaign, F&M and 36 other post-secondary institutions were awarded grants of up to $60,000, totaling $1.4 million. Grants provide funding from January 2024 through May 2025 to develop strategies to combat sexual assault and violence.
With the help of It’s On Us funding, schools are expected to improve sexual violence awareness, prevention and response systems while changing campus culture in regards to sexual violence. Pennsylvania’s campaign is part of a nationwide movement spanning across all 50 states and 275 campuses.
“This critical and generous funding will allow us to broaden our work in sexual violence prevention and advance our vital mission of working to combat sexual violence, harassment and discrimination on campus,” said Sam Thiry, F&M’s director of care coordination and violence prevention.
READ NEXT: Millersville University returns to flat-rate tuition model to recruit, retain students
F&M plans to use its funds to expand on-campus prevention education efforts, including recruiting and training student peer health educators, continuing evidence-based training for the campus community on bystander intervention and bringing outside agencies to campus to provide programming at campus events like orientation, according to Thiry.
Thiry said the grant will also provide funding for the college’s partnership with YWCA Lancaster’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Counseling Center and Domestic Violence Services of Lancaster County.
F&M will begin a new partnership with Planned Parenthood to provide inclusive education on sexual wellness and violence protection, according to Kate Buchkoski, the college’s director of Title IX and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. It will also develop a student-led It’s On Us chapter.
Additionally, funds will be used to increase awareness of student Title IX rights through a multimedia campaign. Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school that receives federal funding.
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf launched the It’s On Us campaign in 2016, making Pennsylvania the first statewide campaign under the national It’s On Us campaign created in 2014 under former President Barack Obama.
Millersville University has received It’s On Us funding six of the seven years – totaling roughly $180,000 – since the 2016 launch in Pennsylvania. Last year, MU was awarded $30,000 through the campaign. MU used the funding to bolster already established programs included in its sexual violence awareness training for employees and students and its Be the One to Speak Up campaign raising awareness of the positive impacts of bystander intervention education, according to a previous statement by university spokesperson Janet Kacskos.
“By participating in the It’s On Us PA grant program, higher education institutions are making their campus communities safer and more welcoming for the students who call them home,” state Secretary of Education Khalid Mumin said.
Want alerts sent to your inbox when news breaks? Sign up for our free Breaking News newsletter here.
