Campus Sexual Assault Nonprofit, Culture of Respect, Officially Launches with the Introduction of CultureofRespect.org

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- National campus sexual assault nonprofit, Culture of Respect, launches today with the introduction of CultureofRespect.org, a comprehensive online portal delivering the most current and synthesized thinking and leading practices from research-based academic sources, professional associations, advocacy groups and governmental reports on the topic of campus sexual assault prevention and response.

Culture of Respect founders John and Sandi Fifield recognized a critical need in the fight to eliminate sexual assault and establish a culture of respect in America's institutions of higher learning.

"We founded Culture of Respect to establish a comprehensive, authoritative and accessible online portal that the higher education community could access for tools and resources as they answer the call to stem the tide of sexual assault on their campuses. We believe all constituents must join together in the effort to shift culture," says Sandi Fifield.

Culture of Respect was created collaboratively with the expertise of an esteemed advisory board, as well as research associates from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and NYU.  The team helped create the online resources devoted to survivors, parents, friends of survivors, student activists, college administrators and other key decision-makers at colleges and universities. 

"Confronting sexual violence on our campuses is emphatically not a hopeless task.  Creative minds have been hard at work for years to come up with solutions to the many vexing and challenging issues that must be tackled," says Dr. David Lisak, clinical psychologist, interpersonal violence expert and Culture of Respect advisor.  "It's time for higher education to start working collaboratively, to truly join forces, and the Culture of Respect web portal is a crucial tool that is designed to help institutions in that effort."

The library of resources available on CultureofRespect.org include:

• Reviews of evidence-based prevention education programs
• Synthesized, pertinent legal information for survivors
• A legal guide for university compliance
• Crucial talking points and support for survivors, friends and parents
• Comprehensive academic research on the topic
• Lists of organizations, speakers and experts on related topics

The portal also houses Culture of Respect's signature framework, the CORE (Culture of Respect Engagement) Blueprint, a Six-Pillar-Strategy to eliminate campus sexual assault. All stakeholders can use this as a guide to work together to prevent rape and increase response efforts. The CORE Blueprint's Six-Pillar Strategy includes information on:

1. Positive survivor support with options on reporting
2. Clear policies on campus adjudication and sanctions
3. Robust multi-tiered education at all levels of the university
4. Public disclosure of sexual assault statistics and related information
5. School-wide mobilization in partnership with campus organizations and student leaders
6. Ongoing self-assessment

The CORE Blueprint is accompanied by the CORE Evaluation, a comprehensive self-assessment that helps colleges and universities to benchmark their efforts via a confidential self-evaluation of their current performance. 

"Culture of Respect has begun a very important dialogue with the higher education community," said Muriel A. Howard, president of American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). "This is an opportunity to effect change through a collaborative and transformative process that provides resources to all involved in campus sexual assault response and prevention."

"We believe that the campus rape epidemic will only be eliminated when sexual assault is replaced with a culture of respect in every sphere of campus life.  Informed by a great amount of research, we created the CORE Blueprint as a guide for university administrators and leaders to strengthen the culture of respect on their campuses and proactively address campus rape," says John Fifield.

About Culture of Respect
Founded in 2013, Culture of Respect is a nonprofit 501c3 established to help colleges and universities answer the call to strengthen prevention efforts and eliminate sexual assault on their campuses.  Culture of Respect achieves its mission by transparently offering administrators, students, parents and all university constituents the best collated and curated research, information, programs and strategies for prevention, response, adjudication and policy on its portal, CultureofRespect.org.

A major tenant of the online portal is the CORE Blueprint - prescriptive in its broad strategy but flexible in specific implementation. It is a road map to change behavior across all constituent groups.

For their early founding support Culture of Respect is indebted to countless individuals, Williams College and a grant from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). Additional support came from Founding Supporter Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Core Supporters Kenyon College, Macalester College and Sewanee, The University of the South.

Contact: Allison Tombros Korman [email protected]
(202) 285-5335
www.CultureofRespect.org
Twitter: @CofRespect
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CultureofRespect.org

Danielle Mackey
[email protected]
(703) 283-9698

SOURCE Culture of Respect

Related Links

http://www.cultureofrespect.org/