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BU To Launch Assault Prevention Center

Citing "several serious incidents" over the past four months, Boston University President Robert Brown is launching a campus assault and abuse crisis center.

In a just-released letter to the BU community, Brown referenced two alleged sexual assaults by members of the school's hockey team and two alleged instances of hazing.

"We are committed to working to ensure that our academic community is one in which uncivil, violent, or abusive treatment of others is not tolerated," he said in the letter.

Brown said the center "will be specifically dedicated to preventing sexual assault through training and outreach and to providing support to victims of sexual assault as well as other forms of abuse, such as hazing."

Brown said he hopes the center will be operational by the 2012–2013 academic year. BU Today reports that the center will have "at least three full-time clinical staff who are specifically [trained] in crisis and sexual assault counseling, as well as one full-time nonclinical 'prevention specialist' who will help with training, outreach, and referrals."

Brown also said he will make the school's "bystander" education, which seeks "to prevent and discourage inappropriate behavior," mandatory for all officials in school-funded student organizations.

The assault allegations, the alleged hazing and the recent slaying of a graduate student off campus, among other incidents, have rocked the BU community.

But, as The Boston Globe reported last week, the university has been open about the incidents and "is not downplaying the bad news." The Globe added: "It is an approach that differs strikingly from crisis management tactics at many other universities."

This program aired on April 30, 2012. The audio for this program is not available.

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Benjamin Swasey Digital Manager
Ben is WBUR's digital news manager.

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