A message from President Harvey Stenger

Binghamton University strives to be a campus where all individuals are respected and are given opportunities for personal development and increased autonomy. These goals are put at risk when students are subjected to sexual violence or debasement.

The recent Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium (HEDS) Sexual Assault Campus Climate (SACC) survey conducted during the spring 2020 semester, as well as a recent letter from the Student Association of Binghamton University regarding the campus’s handling of sexual assault and harassment, make it very clear that the University has a lot more to do in terms of supporting victims and survivors of sexual assault. Moreover, as an institution of higher education, we take seriously our role in educating members of the campus community about their responsibilities with regard to sexual assault, and we support all campus organizations that are working to advance this purpose.

Sexual assaults and harassment have a profoundly negative impact on students’ learning and well-being. Victims of sexual assault suffer disproportionately from depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and are also more likely to have academic challenges and leave college prematurely.

This is a serious problem at Binghamton University. As the HEDS survey shows, approximately 18% of female students have experienced a sexual assault by a male student during their time as a student at Binghamton University. At the same time, 23% of all students reported experiencing unwanted sexual contact or comments during their time at Binghamton. This is unacceptable and we are acting immediately to work to change the culture at our campus through education and training for students, faculty and staff. We also are making changes to make it easier for victims of sexual assault and harassment to report their experiences so the University can better address them.

We are taking the following 12 actions immediately to begin to address this crisis:

1. We will create a Title IX Council that meets biweekly to discuss sexual assault cases. This council will include the Title IX officer; a representative of the University Police Department; the dean of students; the director of health and counseling; the director of the CARE Team, the director of student conduct; the associate vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion; the director of Residential Life; and the director of Health Promotion and Prevention Services.
2. We will hire a new sexual violence counselor to work specifically with survivors of sexual assault and assign two of our existing counselors to deal specifically with these cases.
3. We will increase the scope, enhance trainings and double our investment in programs that train students on sexual assault prevention.
4. We will engage an outside consultant to review our practices and educational programs addressing sexual assault.
5. We will hire two new sexual violence investigators, specifically trained for this work. These investigators will work with victims and survivors to identify perpetrators, bystanders and witnesses so that the prosecution and disciplinary sanctions against the perpetrator are executed quickly and to the fullest extent of our Code of Student Conduct.
6. We will increase awareness and prevention training programs for faculty, staff and administrators so that they can better support students who have experienced a sexual assault.
7. We have created an anonymous online reporting site that students and others can use to report a case of a sexual assault that they have seen or been part of. This reporting process will protect the identity of the reporting individual.
8. We will review our Code of Student Conduct to make prosecution and disciplinary action more rapid, by creating a hearing process that prioritizes sexual assault cases over other student conduct cases.
9. We will suspend campus recognition of Greek life organizations that are connected in any way to a sexual assault case, immediately at the time that the sexual assault is reported, with permanent removal of recognition to follow an investigation supporting the report.
10. We will pursue increasing the mandatory sanctions for all forms of sexual misconduct to increase the likeliness of suspension and expulsion as the outcome for all sexual misconduct cases.
11. We will conduct our Office of Institutional Research and Assessment survey annually. We will also conduct every other year the SUNY-wide Sexual Assault and Prevention Survey in the second half of the spring semester.
12. We will ensure and continue to be in compliance with the annual NCAA Title IX attestation requirements. This includes educating all student-athletes, coaches and staff each year on sexual violence prevention, intervention and response.

Together we will end this horrible behavior through a strong, consistent and effective educational approach. And when a sexual assault happens, we will act swiftly to support our survivors with the compassion that they need, deserve and require, and to punish the perpetrators.

Enough is enough.