$400,000 Federal Grant to Help Philadelphia Universities Combat Violence Against Women on Campuses.

PHILADELPHIA -- Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (USP) received a $400,000 federal grant at a news conference this morning aimed at reducing violent crime against women on their campuses and in West Philadelphia.

The universities will apply part the funding from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women to adopt coordinated responses to crimes such as sexual assault, stalking, domestic violence and dating violence.

The grant also will help establish victim services and programs designed to improve safety and prevention of crimes. The universities will work with police, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office and the nonprofit Philadelphia organizations The Women's Law Project, Women Against Abuse and Women Organized Against Rape to set up those services and programs.

At the news conference, held on Drexel University's campus, Patrick Meehan, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and presenter of the check to the universities, said one in five female students nationwide are the victims of violent crime on university campuses.

After commenting on the strengths of the Clery Act, which requires U.S. colleges and universities to disclose information about crime on and around their campuses, Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham urged victims to testify against their attackers to help bring closure to their incidents and see that justice prevails.

"It will help women take the first step," Abraham said about programs that the grant will fund. "Prosecution is the end result."

The grant is a continuation of a $400,000 grant the universities -- members of the West Philadelphia Campus Community Consortium to Reduce Crimes Against Women -- received for 2003 to 2005. The grant awarded today will fund initiatives through September 2007.

Dr. Julie Mostov, Drexel director of international area studies and women's studies, said the first grant was primarily used to assess the state of victims services and develop training programs and information such as brochures. With the additional funding, the universities will be better able to use their offerings to help women on their campuses.

"We're going to be doing a lot of implementation with the tools that we've been developing," Mostov said.