Dear Faculty, Staff and Students—
We are writing to provide an update on the university’s ongoing interpersonal and sexual violence prevention and response efforts; our last update can be found?here. While we know classes have ended and your focus has shifted to finals and the upcoming holidays, we felt it was important to provide this update now with a promise of more opportunities to respond, ask questions and provide feedback when we return in the spring.
We have heard our community’s concerns and are committed to addressing them. Many students, faculty and staff have been in dialogue for several weeks. In?this document, you will find 22 concrete commitments organized by four focus areas that came through in these community conversations as what needs to be addressed. We hope you will take the time to review?the document?in its entirety. Still, please know that we will launch a website with all the commitments and their completion status in the spring so we can hold ourselves accountable. A few examples include:
- Expanding educational initiatives?including required?sessions for new students?at orientation, required?annual training for all students and employees, and standardized, college-specific?first-year experience courses
- Creating more transparency through a public-facing?dashboard with updated data?on reports of interpersonal and sexual violence at UNH
- Updating our?policies and websites?with student feedback to ensure they are?easy to navigate?and clear about what behaviors are prohibited
- Adding staff?for key offices, including SHARPP and the Affirmative Action & Equity Office
Although many community members have already provided their input, we view this as an ongoing dialogue. Implementing many of these commitments will be complicated, and there may be areas that we are missing. We will create and communicate opportunities for you to share your thoughts and be part of the process of turning these commitments into action.
Thank you again to everyone who shared their stories, gave their time and demonstrated their commitment to this important work.
Sincerely,
James W. Dean Jr.
President
Nadine Petty
Associate Vice President for Community, Equity and Diversity
Michael Blackman
Dean of Students
Laura Buchs
Director & Title IX Coordinator, Affirmative Action & Equity Office
