The two-year state budget proposed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich includes $2 million to fight sexual assault on college campuses in Ohio.
Although details are slim about how the money would be spent — and the budget is still far from passing — it’s encouraging to see state funds allocated to combatting sexual assault on campus.
Kasich’s two-year budget proposal mentions the funding set aside for fighting sexual assault — a topic that we and many OU students care deeply about and one that we have written about extensively in the past.
“Ohio will identify best practices for preventing and responding to campus sexual assaults by Sept. 1, and allocate $2 million to implement these new strategies,” it reads.
The Columbus Dispatch reported Wednesday that the Ohio Board of Regents — which oversees higher education in Ohio — is already working with “each public college and university to list areas in which they need help following Title IX, the federal law forbidding sexual assault and harassment.”
The Dispatch also reported that the proposed $2 million would, in part, go toward hiring Title IX coordinators and student conduct officers for universities that need them. (Ohio University already employs a Title IX coordinator within its Office for Institutional Equity.)
How this potential funding could specifically help OU remains to be seen, but the fact that Kasich proposed it in the first place is a good thing.
And although the proposed $2 million doesn’t solve problems specific to OU or other public institutions around the state, it would be a step in the right direction when it comes to fighting sexual assault.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post's executive editors: editor-in-chief Jim Ryan, managing editor Sara Jerde, opinion editor Xander Zellner and projects editor Allan Smith. Post editorials are independent of the publication's news coverage.
