SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Stanford University Provost Persis Drell is calling for a cultural change in the university to step up the fight against on-campus sexual violence, a newsletter sent Friday read.

Drell was quoted by the Stanford Report as saying that she was "enormously frustrated" by the slow pace of progress in addressing sexual violence and sexual harassment on campus, even several months after the Association of American Universities (AAU) reported widespread sexual misconduct among U.S. top universities, including Stanford, in 2019.

She vowed to roll out a series of measures, including expanding the university's prevention and education efforts and enhancing support services for students who have fallen victim to sexual assault or misconduct.

Drell reaffirmed her commitment to combating on-campus sexual violence during a meeting with the Stanford Faculty Senate that discussed the topics of sexual harassment on campus, which was also attended by three Stanford students.

"The culture change that is going to be necessary to successfully address this challenge is not going to come quickly and it's not going to come easily," she said.

She encouraged students to use training offered by the university to prevent sexual violence they might encounter, which will be extended to all Stanford employees this year.

Drell voiced her support for the idea proposed by many students to open mandatory annual training for all undergraduate students.

According to an AAU report released last November, 38.5 percent of undergraduate women who have studied at Stanford for four years or more have experienced some form of non-consensual sexual contact.

What's more, around 21 percent of Stanford students have suffered some form of sexual harassment that seriously impacted their academic, professional or social life at Stanford, said the AAU report. Enditem

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