TCNJ

7 ADDRESSING SEXUAL ASSAULT About a year into her tenure, the college witnessed just how Gitenstein would approach difficult situations. e U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation into how TCNJ had reported the number of sexual assaults on campus in public crime statistics. "e implication was that we had not told the truth," said Gitenstein. In fact, the investigation concluded that TCNJ underreported several sexual assaults in 1996–97. e investigation could have been easily forgotten had Gitenstein let it rest that the misreport was due to a simple bookkeeping mistake made before her time. Instead, Gitenstein used the moment to highlight the problem and to promise important change across campus. She led a multiyear initiative to increase sexual assault prevention training and to implement policies to make it easier for victims to come forward and file complaints. "Leaders should not lose the opportunity to use these kinds of circumstances to improve the situation on their campuses," said Gitenstein. In 2004, e Office of Anti-Violence Initiatives (AVI) was created with grant funding from the Department of Justice to 3. raise awareness and provide counseling and advocacy services to victims and survivors. Several programs grew from that office. Recognizing that all students play a role in keeping campus safe, the Student Anti- Violence Educators (SAVE) program started in 2005 to raise awareness of bystander intervention and sexual assault prevention. SAVE has expanded over the years to include an internship program, the AVI Street Team of office volunteers, Greeks 4 Change (specifically focused on violence prevention within the Greek community) and an initiative to promote healthy masculinity. Changes were made on the legal and administrative side of the issue as well. TCNJ's Title IX Office was created in November 2015 to ensure that any member of its community who has experienced sexual violence, dating violence, or stalking has a network of support and resources available to them. Some of the Title IX initiatives are: • Training students, faculty, and staff on reporting options, rights, and counseling/ mental health resources on campus • Creating a uniformed system and approach to addressing sexual violence • Creating website and social media content to ensure students better understand their rights and resources • Investigating incidents of sexual violence behavior on campus In April 2014, the college's efforts to address and prevent sexual assault led, in part, to an invitation for President Gitenstein to join Vice President Joe Biden at the White House as he unveiled the findings from the first report of the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. She was one of only five college presidents at the event. Not surprisingly, TCNJ was ahead of the curve and had already been following the best practices that were revealed in the report. NAVIGATING TIMES OF TROUBLE 4. In March 2006, TCNJ faced a crisis that would make most presidents call in the public relations pros. In one of the most difficult moments in college history, freshman John Fiocco was reported missing. e search for him would last for several nerve-wracking weeks, while media attention and speculation grew. roughout the crisis, President Gitenstein opted to handle the messaging herself with the support of TCNJ's spokesman, Matthew Golden. "I wasn't concerned about managing the reputation of the college," she says. "My first priority in that moment was to our students and the members of our community. If we took care of them, reputation would take care of itself." Doing right by the community meant communicating openly and honestly. Gitenstein sent messages to the campus on a near daily basis, sharing all the information that she could. "e pros would have probably told us not to say some of the things that we said," she adds, noting that she addressed a report that a second student had gone missing before all the facts were known. at student was found safe, but she shared more, rather than less, with the community. Credibility, particularly in times of crisis, requires transparency, she says. Last fall, when student research sparked controversy about the name of a landmark building on campus, Paul Loser Hall (see page 14), President Gitenstein drew on her experience from those difficult weeks in 2006, and instilled a model of comprehensive, timely, and transparent communication. In her initial email to the campus community, the president recognized the diligent work of the students. "I congratulate the students and their faculty mentor for having brought light to this important historical era," she said. She also said the decision of the name was not hers alone to make, and a commission was set up to examine the issue, with input from students, faculty, the Loser family, alumni, and the Trenton community. Gitenstein and the commission considered how other campuses dealt with similar circumstances and what information was revealed. All along the way, the community was updated and given a platform to react. e result was a name change to Trenton Hall that spoke to our history and our aspiration to deepen our relationship with the community. In 2009, the college began to use the Green Dot strategy to train students how to intervene in situations that have the potential to become violent. Traditionally, red dots are placed on a map where violence or crime occurs. e Green Dot strategy adds green dots to recognize when students do something positive to make campus safer.

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