ODU Student Attends Second White House Work Session on Campus Sexual Assault

Hill is pictured here at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building gate on April 11.

Old Dominion junior Saige Hill traveled to the White House by special invitation twice this spring - most recently on April 11 - to participate in work sessions addressing campus sexual assault. Vice President Joe Biden and Lynn Rosenthal, White House Advisor on Violence against Women, hosted the sessions.

The ideas generated by Hill and other participants will inform the best practices recommendations of the President's Task Force on Protecting Students from Sexual Assault. The task force has until the end of April to identify best practices for the prevention of sexual violence, improve the transparency of the federal government's enforcement activities, and facilitate the coordination of federal agencies tasked to hold colleges and universities accountable for combating sexual violence. Including the perspective of students like Hill, a leader in the ODU Women's Center's peer education network, is a key component to the task force's success.

The first meeting, a "Listening Session," gathered solutions for building a campus culture of safety from the students and college administrators assembled. Hill stressed the importance of mandatory education for all incoming students and engaging men in the movement for violence-free campuses. The second meeting, a "Data Jam," developed ideas for new phone apps to protect students, facilitate reporting assaults and connect survivors to services.

When asked what she learned from her meeting with the vice president, Hill replied, "I learned that if you put your mind to making a positive change, you can succeed. I never thought that by following my passion and becoming involved with the Women's Center it would lead me to the White House. Now I know that everyone has the ability to make a difference in the world."

President Obama shares Hill's conviction that every one of us can be part of the solution on our home campuses and he pledged his support for her and other students' efforts. In establishing the Task Force, he stated, "Ending sexual violence on our nation's campuses is critically important, and we all have a role to play. We each share the responsibilities of speaking out against sexual violence, lifting up survivors in our community, and building a culture of respect.

"As you launch this discussion on your campus, I urge you to use your voices to make our institutions of higher learning safer. And I stand with you as you work to prevent and respond to sexual violence."

For more information contact Wendi White at the ODU Women's Center.