The Task Force on a Safe and Responsible Campus Community

University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price formally charged The Task Force on a Safe and Responsible Campus Community today, asking the student, staff, and faculty members to focus attention on, and develop a collective understanding of, how best to promote a respectful and healthy campus environment.

This Task Force comes in response to public concerns over gender-based discrimination by students and groups, behavior which damages the campus community and creates a culture of sexism. The Task Force members will convene campus conversations and gather as a body to discuss and formulate recommendations for the President and Provost. The work will conclude in April 2017.

In addition to the information that will be gathered through in-person sessions with students, members of the campus community will be encouraged to submit recommendations and comment electronically via the Task Force website: https://provost.upenn.edu/initiatives/task-force.

Task Force Tri-Chairs:
·      Dr. Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum, Vice Provost for University Life
·      Maureen Rush, Vice President for Public Safety, Superintendent of Penn Police
·      Dr. Beth Winkelstein, Vice Provost for Education

Each Tri-Chair will oversee a working group pursuing one of the three charges:
·      Recommend ways to further strengthen the University’s efforts to foster a campus climate and culture that is free of sexual harassment and sexual violence, alcohol and other substance abuse, and other forms of behavior that may violate Penn’s Code of Student Conduct  (Dr. Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum, Vice Provost for University Life)
·      Review Penn policies and protocols to ensure that we are doing all we can to make students aware of their responsibilities under Penn’s Code of Student Conduct. (Dr. Beth Winkelstein, Vice Provost for Education)
·      Ensure that we are holding students in unaffiliated and unsupervised groups accountable for violations of University policy to the maximum degree permitted. (Maureen Rush, Vice President for Public Safety, Superintendent of Penn Police)

Student Members:
·      Christopher D’Urso, C’18, University Honor Council (Co-Chair), Penn Consumer Assistance, Support & Education (Founder and President), Sigma Iota Rho Journal of International Relations (Deputy Editor-in-Chief), Leadership Residential Program - Rodin College House (Programming Chair)
·      Rosario Jaime-Lara, PhD candidate in Nursing, Graduate Associate in Ware College House, GAPSA Chair for Student Life
·      Michelle Xu, C’18, Undergraduate Assembly (Treasurer), Student Activities Council (Executive Board Member)

Faculty & Staff Members:
·      Dr. Jose Bauermeister, Presidential Associate Professor of Nursing Dr. Kent Bream, Assistant Professor of Clinical Family Medicine and Community Health, Perelman School of Medicine
·      Joann Mitchell, Vice President for Institutional Affairs
·      Wendy White, Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Task Force Administrative Staff:
·      Kathleen Shields Anderson, Director of Operations and External Affairs, Division of Public Safety
·      Monica Yant Kinney, Executive Director, Strategy, Communications, and External Affairs, Division of the Vice Provost for University Life
·      Rob Nelson, Executive Director for Education and Academic Planning, Office of the Provost