A new UPUA roundtable will meet weekly to discuss sexual violence prevention and awareness, according to a release from its communications department. The decision to start the roundtable discussion comes during a semester at Penn State where 17 sexual assaults alone have been reported to the police.

The roundtable discussions start today and plan to continue on a weekly basis starting next semester. Representatives from the Office of Student Affairs, the Centre County Women’s Resource Center, the State College Police, CAPS, and 15 student organizations will join UPUA for these discussions.

The mission of the roundtable can be broken down into three parts:

• Produce policies that will support the prevention of sexual violence in the Penn State community.

• Improve communications and obtain full support from the University regarding these issues.

• Produce more effective programming as outreach to the student body.

The roundtable will also look into increasing overall student awareness on sexual violence, as well as educating students on the various resources available to the victims of sexual assault.

“We look forward to helping facilitate discussion and hopefully effective results from these roundtable discussions,” said UPUA Rep. Anand Ganjam, who also serves as the Roundtable Co-Chair. “We feel it’s imperative that this is a University-wide effort, and encourage involvement from all interested parties so we can make substantial changes.”