Bowie State University and the University of Maryland College Park in collaboration with Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER) will host a mini conference on sexual violence on November 2 on the Bowie campus. The event will take place in the Wiseman Student Centre, Room 102 from 8:30 am to 12:30 p.m. Bowie State University is located at 14000 Jericho Park Road in Bowie, Maryland.

This is the second conference in the series. The first was held October 5 on the College Park campus of the University of Maryland. The earlier event focused on the role of the Title IX coordinator on campus as the official responsible for complaints of sexual assault on campus. Title IX is the landmark federal law passed in 1972 that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity that receives federal funding.

"The mini-conference series is intended to speak to the issues of sexual violence that are not only taking place within the campus community but also the communities outside the university," said Simpdy Merelan, Sexual Assault Program coordinator at Bowie State University., "We hope this series of events will bring the communities together to help raise awareness and prevention of such issues."

The November 2 mini-conference will feature guest speakers from SAFER covering a range of issues pertaining to campus sexual assault policy making, including the dynamics of sexual assault on campus, what happens if someone is sexually assaulted on campus, and effective tactics to change campus culture, implement prevention efforts and improve crisis response and discipline processes.

The series is supported with funding from the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women. To register and receive more information on the conference, visit www.mcasa.org. Registration is restricted to Maryland and Washington, D.C., based organizations.

Bowie State University is Maryland’s oldest historically Black college and university (HBCU) that places special emphasis on the science, technology, teacher education, business and nursing disciplines within the context of a liberal arts education.