By Katherine Wheatle

Students cannot meaningfully participate in university life if they do not feel like they belong and especially if they do not feel safe. As ideological politicians seek to make universities serve their private, personal interests over the needs of our community and our future, we need leaders willing to stand up, not stand by; we must choose courage over complacency and student well-being over self-serving agendas.

Trump’s attack on university diversity and inclusion programs has become a signature play of his administration. Despite misleading (and downright racist and sexist) tropes, the value of these programs is clear; they ensure that all who choose to seek a degree, certificate, or credential can access and complete it. And as a former Penn State community health educator, I know another benefit of these programs that is too often overlooked: they reduce campus rape.

Sexual violence perpetrators target people who seem vulnerable. That’s why, nationally, students experience rape at the highest rate during the “Red Zone,” that is, the time from the start of the academic year through winter break. Many students are away from home for the first time, without family and friends; they don’t have their support network and aren’t yet comfortable on campus. And timing is not the only factor that increases a person’s likelihood of experiencing sexual violence. Students who are low-income, differently abled, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and people of color are also at increased risk of experiencing sexual violence compared to their peers.

Rape occurs when some people who think they have power—whether through social status, money, or ability—feel as though they have the license to violate people they think are powerless. That’s why diversity and inclusion programs are so critical for reducing sexual violence in our community. They empower vulnerable students by connecting them with a community. They help our students find friends willing to walk home with them after a party or intervene when someone makes them uncomfortable. As a student, I helped first-year and transfer students build these connections through programs like S-Plan (now BluePrint). These programs also teach students who want to be part of the solution how to step in when they see something wrong.

And these programs deter bad actors. When we invest in our most vulnerable students, would-be perpetrators see that no one at our university is an easy target because every student has a strong community behind them. We know this from Penn State history. Our 1947-48 Nittany Lion football team’s refusal to play without their Black players was so powerful because Southern segregationists expected our white football players to abandon them, making them easy targets for their racial animosity. But they stood with them in solidarity. Our community was better for it.

After I received my master’s in public health, I felt compelled to return to Penn State to support peer health educators and student mentors because I know their work is so critical. Since then, dozens of Penn State employees and students have continued working toward safer campuses. But in the over a decade I’ve been gone, Penn State’s leadership has shown tremendous apathy towards the issue. In 2020, the Education Department ordered Penn State administrators to overhaul the institution’s Title IX procedures. The corresponding investigative report was filled with troubling and, in many cases, heartbreaking stories: It detailed how leadership refused to respond to Office of Sexual Misconduct and Response staff members when they requested additional personnel to support their work. As a result, investigations moved at a snail’s pace. A staff member admitted that certain rape cases were “on the back burner.” In one case, a student requested that the Office process her complaint, but after a year of delay, she gave up; she asked the Office to “never contact her again.” Two months later, the University received another complaint from a different student about the same perpetrator. Our leadership neglected and abandoned the students who depended on them, at a time when they needed support the most; psychologist Jennifer Freyd calls this “institutional betrayal.”

Right now, our students don’t believe that University leadership will prevent sexual violence or protect the thousands of survivors and victims who call Penn State home. The most recent Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey shows both high rates of rape and a lack of faith in Penn State leadership that’s only getting worse. In 2018, around one in three University Park students did not agree that Penn State would handle their report fairly. In the most recent survey, it is more than half, including 75% of LGBTQ+
undergraduates and 60% of undergraduates of color. As external agendas undercut the programs that prevent rape, continued inaction only leaves students more vulnerable. Now more than ever, we must renew our commitment to sexual violence prevention work. In 2014, in response to a nationwide push for
increased university efforts to stop sexual violence, then-University President Eric Barron accepted 18 recommendations proposed by the University’s Task Force on Sexual Assault and Harassment. Our leadership must bolster continued efforts by leveraging the 2025 survey to develop data-driven plans to address sexual violence in the coming years. I support releasing survey data that will enable researchers to identify and develop targeted prevention efforts that will increase campus safety. And I believe that, a decade after its report, our university leadership must reconvene the Task Force to chart structural reforms over the next decade.

The decisions our university leadership makes over the coming years aren’t just business as usual; they will determine whether we keep failing students or finally start fighting for them.

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This post, written by Board of Trustees candidate Katherine Wheatle, was submitted independently as part of our community content program. You could have your content published on Onward State by submitting it here or by contacting [email protected].

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