A federal agency will discontinue funding for Ball State University's Office of Victims Services, but that could benefit the university, June Payne, director of counseling and health services, said.
OVS, which helps women who have been involved in sexual assault, began in 2006 when Ball State received a grant from the Department of Justice for Violence against Women, Payne said. The grant will end Dec. 31, she said.
Ball State applied for a grant renewal, but the Department of Justice rejected it, she said.
The Counseling Center is working with Ball State to institutionalize the program by January, which would require the university to pay for it, Payne said.
"We are at a really critical juncture at this time because, with our federal plan, one of the conditions they stipulate is there is a way in which the university would have to sustain the project if the funding is not available," she said. "What I'm submitting at this point is a proposal for the institutionalization of the Office of Victims Services."
Kay Bales, vice president of student affairs, said she received a proposal explaining reasons for institutionalizing the program on Tuesday.
Bales said she had not yet read through the proposal on Wednesday, and she had not made any decisions regarding the future of OVS.
Before the university decides whether to institutionalize OVS, the number of students the program affects and how well it reaches out to students need to be considered.
Payne said she was optimistic Ball State would decide to institutionalize OVS because student affairs has been supportive of the program since it began.
"I have no doubt Dr. Bales is supportive of this program and supportive of institutionalizing it," Payne said, "and I have no doubt she will do her best to make sure that happens."
Payne said if OVS is institutionalized, Ball State would have more control over the program, and it would not have to comply with the grant's requirements.
"We would be able to focus primarily on what's best for out students," she said. "The Department of Justice for Violence Against Women requires our services focus entirely on women who have been victimized. We could open our offices to men who've been victimized, whether it's sexual assault or any kind of violence."
OVS would provide services to other types of victims, Payne said, such as those of racial discrimination and child neglect.
"Something over the course of two years that we've really come to appreciate is the importance of this service," Payne said. "We just did not have the level of care that was needed for students. Students, of course, feel more comfortable in getting services where they live. If they're going off campus, they're going to places that are unfamiliar to them. They do not know what to expect."
The Counseling Center would cut costs for OVS to make it more affordable for Ball State if the program is institutionalized, Payne said.
The federal grant required staff to travel frequently for training, Payne said, which they would no longer do.
OVS also would no longer employ graduate assistants who worked in the Muncie community as part of the program, Payne said.
"Actually, what it would mean is we would not have students placed in outside agencies," she said. "Where we have had the help of those three students, it would fall to the victim advocate to cover those services better."
If Ball State institutionalizes OVS, Payne said, the Counseling Center would still apply for federal grant money in the future.
"It would give us an opportunity to expand the program as far as outreach or whatever it may be," she said. "It would give us an opportunity to get involved on campus."
Payne said the Department of Justice declined Ball State's request for a renewal because of the large number of universities that applied for it.
"I have always been told [the grants] are highly competitive," she said, "but for this submission, she said we just missed the cutoff. I think we submitted an excellent application. There's no way I feel bad about it."
Part of the reason more schools competed for the grant this year was because the duration of the funding increased from two years to three years, Payne said.
The Department of Justice also created "flagship and consortia" grants, which allow multiple universities to apply for one grant. Several universities applied for one grant for about $500,000, where as Ball State applied for $300,000 for itself.
When Ball State applied for the grant in 2005, the Department of Justice approved 35 out of about 160 requests, Payne said. The Department of Justice approved 11 in 2007, she said.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
