Time — and funding — is running out for an important university resource for sexual assault survivors.
Time — and funding — is running out for an important university resource for sexual assault survivors.
The Post reported Wednesday that Ohio University’s Survivor Advocacy Program, which provides confidentiality to sexual assault survivors, is not guaranteed funding past October 2015.
If the program were to lose its funding, victims of sexual assault would be left with one fewer university resource in a time of dire need. We would hate to see that become the case, but there’s still more than a year to ensure that the university doesn’t have to bid farewell to such a meaningful program.
We urge the university to act quickly, absorbing the program into its budget and avoiding its potential fiscal insecurity altogether. Although OUSAP has yet to formally ask the university to finance the program — it is still researching its funding options — the university would be paying a small price to help sexual assault survivors seek the necessary resources if it took on OUSAP.
The program is currently funded via a grant from the national Office on Violence Against Women, which has allocated $570,000 for the program since 2009. The chances of renewing that grant may be slim, given the fact that the program has tapped into it on two occasions already.
We cannot underscore the importance of such a program enough. It helped 120 victims from July 2010 to June 2014. Its 24/7 confidential reporting hotline received more than 1,100 calls during that timeframe.
The program is important, and we hope that callers continue to hear a friendly voice instead of a dead line.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post’s executive editors.
