Sexual-assault summit feels impact of Vanderbilt trial

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - While a jury in downtown Nashville was declaring two former Vanderbilt University football students guilty of raping a fellow student, administrators from about 80 public and private colleges across Tennessee were meeting just three miles away about sexual assault on campus.

The timing was coincidental, but the verdict added a level of intensity to the summit's PowerPoint presentations and panel discussions.

Katie High is the University of Tennessee vice president for academic affairs and student success. She said about 450 people attended the two-day meeting on the campus of Tennessee State University.

Not everyone was even aware of the Vanderbilt case when the summit started Tuesday morning, High said. "But once the verdict came down, I think we all sat up a little bit straighter. ...It intensified the importance of everything for us."

High said the summit was first envisioned last fall as a way to educate college and university staff about changes to the federal Clery Act that affect how campuses are required to respond to sexual assault and relationship violence.

S. Daniel Carter, with the 32 National Campus Safety Initiative, told attendees that new regulations place the emphasis for sexual-assault education on the changing behavior of potential perpetrators, rather than victims.

The idea is no longer teaching students "how not to get raped," he said, "but teaching students not to rape."

Another new area of emphasis is bystander intervention. That is particularly poignant given the testimony that came out during the Vanderbilt case that at least five Vanderbilt athletes saw the victim in distress and did not report it.

Marlene Hall is the Tennessee Tech University compliance coordinator for the Clery Act and other federal regulations involving sex discrimination. She said the cultural changes schools are talking about today may seem impossible, but she likened them to the campaign against drunken driving.

"We've seen that it can be done," she said. "I've been dealing with this situation much of my career, and sometimes you think, 'How many decades is it going to take?' But you have to see that there is progress and not give up."