Message on student welfare and sexual violence

Monday, February 26, 2018

IU President McRobbie recently shared the following message with IU campus chancellors and other senior university administrators.

Dear Chancellors,

Recent national conversations and tragic events continue to bring to light the devastating realityand impact of sexual violence and harassment within our communities.

Indiana University has joined many others around our country in supporting those who have shared their painful and deeply personal stories and in strongly commending their brave determination to end this abhorrent behavior, which has no place on our campuses or anywhere else in our society. 

Here at IU, we remain unwavering in our commitment to stopping sexual violence and all forms of sexual misconduct. Furthermore, as guided by our university-wide Student Welfare Initiative, we continue to strive to be a nationwide leader in sexual assault prevention and in providing support to students who have experienced any form of sexual misconduct.

In an important note to faculty, staff and students, IU Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel outlined the Bloomington campus’ commitment to stopping sexual violence and the rigorous education, training and prevention programs that the campus continues to provide toward creating a safe campus environment. Please read Lauren’s message, which offers a powerful and thoughtful expression of our ongoing commitment to preventing sexual misconduct at IU through the processes, procedures and programs we have in place. 

Would you please reach out to all the students, staff, faculty and deans on your campuses to assure them of our determination to lead the fight against sexual violence and to provide the essential services and resources, including tools for reporting incidents and information about where to get help, all of which are located at the university’s comprehensive Stop Sexual Violence website. And as part of our continued effort to review and adopt best practices, I ask you to invite all members of your campus communities to share their input and ideas to titleix@iu.edu

We must all take seriously our responsibility to create a climate that sends the unmistakable message that any form of sexual misconduct is unacceptable, and allow our students to pursue their education with maximum confidence in their personal safety.

Finally, let us all redouble our efforts to ensure campus environments where those who have experienced sexual misconduct are comfortable seeking assistance and reporting their experiences and are confident in the university’s ability to objectively and thoroughly investigate reports, and where all related proceedings are conducted in a manner that ensures due process, as well as fairness and dignity to all participants. 

Yours sincerely,

Michael A. McRobbie

President