In a step toward confronting gender-based violence on campuses, the University of California launched a website called empowerU last month.
The website links students to a wide variety of UC and UCLA resources in the form of counseling, crisis lines and guidelines for dealing with sexual violence.
Students can access these services from any UC at their convenience, said Elizabeth Gong-Guy, director of UCLA’s Counseling and Psychological Services.
Visitors to the site can click on links, such as “Find Help at Your Campus,” and find information about prevention and UC policies.
Counseling and Psychological Services sees nearly two dozen cases of sexual violence per year, but a large number of incidents go unreported, Gong-Guy said.
The empowerU website is mainly a gateway to services and publications provided by UC campuses and local organizations.
Patricia St. Peter, a first-year voice performance student, said she would like to see more campus-wide educational programs addressing gender-based violence, in addition to the resources provided by the new site.
Such programs will be funded by grant money being distributed among the campuses, Gong-Guy said.
The empowerU initiative is backed by a $1 million grant from the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women.
In addition to maintaining the empowerU website, the grant also provides $23,000 to UCLA to fund self-defense workshops, wellness programs and educational seminars for student organizations on campus through the Campus Assault Resources and Education program.
For the last three years, the program has also put on quarterly sexual assault awareness sessions called Bruins Care for student leaders in fraternities, sororities and other student groups, said Nicole Green, a psychologist at Counseling and Psychological Services.
These programs give students the means to recognize and take active roles in preventing sexual assault from occurring and reflect continued efforts to curb incidents of sexual violence on campus, Green said.
Counseling and Psychological Services also educates students about sexual violence by sponsoring student programs like the Clothesline Project and annual events like Take Back the Night, which occurred last week.