Thiel College community comes together for ‘It’s On Us’ grant announcement

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- Thiel College, a leading liberal arts college in northwest Pennsylvania, hosted about 50 students, employees and friends of the College Tuesday in the Howard Miller Student Center to outline how the money from its $30,000 “It’s On Us PA” grant will be used to raise awareness for ending sexual harassment and violence.

Following the announcement, members of the campus community were urged to take action by making a personal commitment to keep men and women safe from sexual violence by pledging to be an active bystander.

“This was a competitive grant application process. We are proud to have been selected,” Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Mike McKinney ’02 said. “These funds will be used for campus awareness campaigns and to ramp up training on campus. I look forward to the caliber of programs we will be able to have on campus and engaging our local partners.”

Members of the Mercer County domestic and sexual violence victims agency AWARE, Inc. attended the event.

“The first step toward preventing sexual assault is to acknowledge that everyone has a role to play,” Thiel College President Susan Traverso, Ph.D., said.

Next week members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity will be raising funds with their “Walk A Mile In Her Shoes” event. Proceeds from their fundraising will be donated to AWARE Inc. President of the Thiel College Student Government Association Brittany DeCarmine ’18 and a representative from the office of state legislator Michele Brooks also participated in the event.

“Involvement in this program benefits our campus, our community…everyone,” DeCarmine said. “Getting the students involved and getting them to take the pledge, getting them energized is important.”

Thiel College is among nearly 40 Pennsylvania postsecondary institutions that were recently awarded a portion of $1 million in grants to enhance and improve campus policies and programs in place to prevent sexual violence and harassment as part of Governor Tom Wolf's “It's On Us PA” campaign. More than 60 schools applied for funding. 

The “It’s On Us” initiative seeks to improve education and increase support for faculty, staff and students by raising awareness and reporting of incidents of sexual assault.

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