College of Charleston Receives Sexual Violence Prevention Grant

The South Carolina Institute on the Prevention of Sexual Violence on College Campuses (SCIP) has awarded Leya Nelson, director of the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs and Title IX coordinator, the 2024 South Carolina Sexual Violence Prevention Grant for the College of Charleston.

The purpose of the South Carolina Sexual Violence Grant is to promote innovative initiatives and best practices to educate and build awareness around complex issues of sexual harassment, including sexual assault, dating or domestic violence, gender-based harassment or bullying and stalking.

The Office of Equal Opportunity Programs will use this grant to fund the Cougar Curriculum project, which partners with student actors, filmmakers, editors and playwrights to develop a video series of trainings on navigating difficult situations to prevent sexual and interpersonal violence. The video topics will focus on discussing consent and sexual boundaries, strategies for bystander intervention and risk reduction.

“This grant is an important opportunity to shine a spotlight on the creative talents of our students while also incorporating their voices into our sexual misconduct prevention training,” says Nelson, adding that theatre majors Riley Taylor and Jaelin Lavanway will be the playwrights on the project. “By partnering with students, we hope to bring their voices to these videos and develop an impactful training series that will speak to challenges student face in navigating interpersonal relationships. We are excited to see the impact this training program will have at the College in fostering healthy relationships.”