NIU will receive a $400,000 grant to improve campus and community programs that combat sexual violence, assault and domestic violence against women.

Project coordinator Blanch McHugh said dating violence and stalking have become more prevalent on college campuses and in society, motivating her to write the grant’s proposal last spring.

The two-year grant will increase education and awareness on campus, she said. NIU’s SOAR, Students Organized Against Rape, program currently requires all freshmen to attend a seminar on sexual assault prevention, and the money will allow NIU to expand this information to the entire student body.

Judy Skorek, assistant director at University Resources for Women, said transfer students and students living off-campus often are missed by SOAR. The project hopes to reach student organizations, enabling the campus to receive necessary information to prevent violent crimes against women.

“This grant presents wonderful opportunity,” said Kathy Hotelling, director of the NIU Counseling and Student Development, in a press release. “It builds on an already strong program and improves it for the benefit of students.”

NIU received the U.S. Department of Justice grant along with 17 other schools such as the University of North Florida, Michigan State and the University of Minnesota. Even though the project’s staff hasn’t received the grant money, they are organizing preventative programs and activities, said Micki Emmett, Student Affairs assistant provost and project director.

“We are committed to using this money wisely and to fulfill the goals of the grant,” Emmett said.

Within the next two years, NIU plans to offer self-defense classes at the Office of Campus Recreation, provide peer support and prevention networks within fraternities and sororities and provide additional training and equipment for DeKalb and University Police to aid victimized women.

Emmett said they plan to train everyone on campus, from University Police and Health Services to faculty and students, on how to recognize and react to victims of abuse and violence. The project staff will look for student input and involvement through surveys, open forums and student focus groups.

“We can’t do it without the students,” Skorek said.