Sexual violence, sexual harassment, domestic violence, and stalking are widespread on today's college campuses. In the U.S., as many as one in four women and one in 16 men experience sexual assault during their college career.
A primary resource for students who experience sexual violence is the institution's website. A high-quality website can provide victims, those accused, and those working to support them with the information they need to make important decisions about reporting, self-care, and participation in any investigative or adjudicatory process.
This website checklist from the Justice and Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative at the Wellesley Centers for Women is meant to aid institutions in designing and maintaining user-friendly website content related to the prevention of and response to sexual violence. The information in this guide grew out of a research project funded by the National Institute of Justice that involved the review of 969 college and university websites to explore how colleges currently respond to sexual assault allegations.
The document is comprised of three parts:
- Part One: Website design guidelines for website information related to sexual violence and the institution's prevention and response efforts
- Part Two: Semester review guidelines for regular maintenance of the website
- Part Three: Website checklist to outline what information should be included on the website
Citation: Cares, A.C., Williams, L.M., & Frederick, M.E. (June, 2020). Responding to Sexual Assault on Campus: Website Checklist. Wellesley Centers for Women. Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA
