History of the Sexual Misconduct Prevention Program

The Sexual Misconduct Prevention Program was established to continue and build on the nationally recognized sexual misconduct prevention work of the President’s Initiative to Prevent Sexual Misconduct (PIPSM).

PIPSM was launched by former University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler in May 2017 as a two-year effort to enhance and expand the University’s sexual misconduct prevention efforts.  Using a public health approach, PIPSM engaged University leaders, students, staff, and faculty on multiple prevention fronts – including education, public health awareness, evaluation and research, institutional accountability, and others.  

 Some key PIPSM accomplishments include:

• implementation of the University’s first and second required sexual misconduct prevention courses for employees; 
• provision of in-person sexual misconduct prevention education to all department heads and deans with live-acted scenarios; 
• the first broad collection and analysis of data on the frequency of sexual misconduct among University employees; and
• the roll-out of a public awareness campaign to raise the visibility and profile of sexual misconduct issues throughout the University community.

To further grow the impact and effectiveness of the University’s sexual misconduct prevention activities over the long term, the work of PIPSM transitioned into the Sexual Misconduct Prevention Program within the Office for Equity and Diversity in 2023.  

Since then, the Sexual Misconduct Prevention Program continues and builds on the foundational work of PIPSM by providing strategic coordination of evidence-based prevention initiatives and activities across the system for students and employees.