Dartmouth’s President on Sexual Assault Prevention and Bystander Intervention

Philip J. Hanlon is the president of Dartmouth College

Prevention efforts are critical if we are to rid our campuses of the extreme behaviors that harm our community and distract us from the passion of our pursuits. Through the Dartmouth Bystander Initiative (DBI), we are instructing individual students, faculty and staff to intervene at the first signs of trouble. To date, more than 800 Dartmouth students have been trained in DBI and we expect up to 1,400 more to be trained by the end of the month.

But, we are doing even more to mobilize the community as a whole. We have established earlier this year the Center for Community Action and Prevention to serve as the hub for all our violence prevention programs, including DBI. At the same time, we are collaborating with leaders in Washington DC and across higher education to identify the best prevention strategies, resources, and support to enhance the engagement of our communities in the all-important task of stopping extreme behavior before it happens.

And in July, Dartmouth will host a Summit on Sexual Assault that will bring together higher ed leaders and experts from around the country to strengthen prevention efforts and better promote the safety and well-being of our students.

(You can read more opinions in TIME’s special report: Ending Campus Sexual Assault and get the full story in this week’s cover article by Eliza Gray: The Sexual Assault Crisis on American Campuses.)