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State expands sexual assault education initiative

Kayla Tucker

A Michigan campus sexual assault program expands to high schools this year.

First Lady Sue Snyder chairs the 'Let’s End Campus Sexual Assault' initiative. She announced Tuesday the program will now reach high schools across the state. 

Snyder says it’s important for awareness to begin before college.

"It needs to be a discussion at home or in the schools as to what goes on in college and what might happen - and to be more aware," she says.

The program offers a total of $500,000 in grants. Institutions can apply for funding to further campus prevention efforts.

Sarah Prout Rennie is the executive director of the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence. She says community colleges are often ignored in conversations regarding sexual assault. 

"I personally went to a community college and it was a stepping stone to go to law school, for me," Rennie says. "And I feel very passionately that community college students deserve the same rights that any other university student might."

Both Rennie and Snyder spoke this week at an educational conference at Grand Rapids Community College.

Kayla Tucker is a radio news intern at WGVU. She is a student at Grand Rapids Community College, where she is the Editor-in-Chief of The Collegiate newspaper.
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