Where is Delaware State one year after calls for improved safety, handling of sexual assault?

She'll remember the energy.

Kimorah Hall was just one in a growing sea of faces. Coat-clad students coalesced around her on the campus street, gripping megaphones and posters on a Wednesday afternoon. Classes pushed aside, hundreds in Dover shouted for something else.

"It was a trust that I was feeling,” said the now-junior. “The energy gave me trust, compassion, leadership.”

Student protest rocked Delaware State University’s campus last year, as demonstrators called for improved campus safety and handling of sexual assault cases.

Students sparked a chain reaction in January 2023, leading to national coverage, hours of townhall meetings, staff shakeups, questions in Legislative Hall and more. Looking back, painting one picture of progress is difficult. The HBCU was not only charged with addressing shortcomings on its own campus after a string of reports — but a painful issue plaguing campuses all over the country.

Student reaction remains mixed, while some problems remain larger than any one university.

“I was blindsided,” Hall said, thinking back to her own hours spent meeting with fellow students, speaking up in meetings.

“You'd think the nodding and squinting of the eyes, giving you a sense of understanding, the writing scribbling down on notes, making it seem like they're really taking you seriously — that it would make a huge impact within the school system and policy,” she continued. “At first, I really thought it was going somewhere.”

Hall is just one student left feeling "disappointed" campus doesn't feel different.

But, it did get brighter.

New lights came. New cameras came. Emergency blue light systems are up to date. University police presence increased, with regular ID checks returned to the main gate. And the perceived backbone of Delaware State’s response came together in a “Safe Space Coalition,” formed by some 100 students, university leaders and community members ahead of spring.

A year later, President Tony Allen calls university response "ongoing."

"I hesitate to plant any flags relative to success, just because of the nature of this issue across the country," Allen said. "Anybody who does that, I don't think is being realistic as to what it takes to not only talk about this out loud — but to do it boldly and make it a part of our cultural shift."

Cultural change doesn’t come with simple metrics.

It'd be difficult to measure whether students feel more comfortable reporting sexual assaults. It’s tough to test whether future survivors will feel they’re being taken seriously as their case moves through Title IX and law enforcement, a concern many voiced last year.

“They do help, and they do strive to do better,” said Hall, an aspiring social worker, of her school. “But there are some things that they lack in that become not only a cut, but deeper than a cut. It’s a love-hate relationship that I have with DSU.”

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DSU response continues

She moved away.

Jayda Tate didn’t feel any safer when protest dust settled. She chose what can be a one-hour commute over campus housing for her next term. Last year, the Bear native and survivor herself watched several seniors in student organizations join the university’s coalition, only to graduate a few months later.

“A lot of the students were seniors and graduated, and then there's nothing left to be said for it," the junior said. "There wasn't really any progress.”

By March 2023, though, the coalition had an early win.

The group secured a $300,000 grant, pledged to fuel the development of a sexual assault response and prevention program. "Safe Space Project" would be housed in the Hope House on DSU Downtown campus, according to the March 8 announcement, to offer support to survivors of sexual assault, family members and allies. DSU also told the press and community the program would host a part-time counselor.

As of Jan. 18, one year after the student protest, that was the only announcement on the news tab of the Safe Space Coalition page. The latest progress report linked also dated from March 2023, while several names on the dashboard graduated. The page has since been updated, following Delaware Online/The News Journal questions.

“I wish you could see my face right now,” another student said over the phone, shocked to be asked of those plans. “I don't know if anyone else has been there, or seen it, or heard about any progress, but I personally haven't.”

This junior, similar to several students interviewed, felt like she never heard another update from the coalition. Due to concerns of retribution, having been removed from a committee when she wouldn't sign a confidentiality agreement, she didn't want to share her name.

Gwen Scott-Jones would tell it differently.

"It's our fault we haven't really updated that site," said the coalition chair and founding dean of the Wesley College of Health. She said $300,000 grant served to underwrite initial operations.

And the Hope House initiative from the coalition — the physical location and resource for survivors, with a counselor on staff — is now set to open on Jan. 26, university leaders said on a call with Delaware Online/The News Journal this month, after nearly a year of laying groundwork.

Allen said the coalition still meets and "regularly" delivers recommendations to his office. Scott-Jones said Hope House will join "Circle Up" meetings for survivors, new 2024 goals and other programming for students.

The response also landed $302,000 in other grants, according to the president’s June 2023 presentation to the board of trustees. Allen said these funds were similarly pledged to "increase Title IX education and awareness training across the university." Title IX protects people from discrimination, including violence, based on sex in education programs or activities. Funds would also help in boosting safety protocols, he noted, and hiring additional mental health professionals.

"We had to make sure we tackled the low hanging fruit," Allen said.

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DSU response, at a glance:

• Law Enforcement: Deputy Police Chief Joi Simmons was named sexual assault awareness officer; Police Chief James Overton was appointed to lead his department once again as Bobby Cummings stepped down, adding new officers and cadet training; overnight police/security presence was increased on both Main Campus and DSU Downtown; 24/7 Escort Service was implemented; ID checks reinstated at the Main Gate after 5 p.m.

• Facilities: Verified 90%, or more than 1,000, external lights on campus were made operational, while all residence hall external doors were confirmed to be working.

• Health Services: Extended the hours of both the counseling and health centers, while adding virtual health services and online therapy through Christiana Care’s GoHealth Urgent Care.

• New Student Orientation: Along with Title IX, judicial affairs and public safety, "Safe Space" was to be integrated into orientation, setting a tone for all new and transfer students. This joins continued sensitivity training sessions, according to Allen.

• Communication: Students and faculty have access to the DSU HUB App to communicate, per DSU, alongside a newly established "Student Mental Health Ambassadors Program" under the DSU Trauma Academy.

Graduate student Rita Williams, still a coalition co-chair after graduation, said fellow students are already using these resources, from escorts to telehealth counseling.

"Students pay attention to that stuff, and they made sure that we held our word with stuff like that," she said on a call with other administration. And, as she put it, some of this work has been behind the scenes due in part to sensitivity that students may want something "a little bit more private" when it comes to discussing sexual violence.

This group hasn't been without hiccups in the name of privacy.

Delaware State made any student who wished to join the Safe Space Coalition, through the core membership or nine steering committees, sign a confidentiality agreement initially citing privacy concerns. After reporting from Delaware Online/The News Journal revealed this, alongside pressure from free speech organizations, the university rolled it back.

The lid was on tight last winter. Delaware State escorted media out of a large town-hall meeting following the January protest, while certain follow-up meetings were also closed to the public. A large event in April was open. Several students also said these confidentiality agreements are common for student leaders, like heads of Student Government Association, but DSU did not offer confirmation last year.

"If they are doing things, at least, it hasn't been publicized," Tate said. "It just seems like the issue has been watered down."

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Life goes on

She just needs to graduate.

“These last four years have probably been the worst of my life,” Dynah Mosley said plainly. "I was really excited for the HBCU experience. I was excited to be around my people and be loved by my people and feel like I belonged."

She was exhausted from speaking out as a survivor, from hoping to see progress after protest, from crying in townhalls. The fellow Bear native moved back home for her senior year.

It’s nice to see more lights on campus, great to see security out building windows. But overall, Mosley still feels like it all somehow failed to meet the moment.

She’ll remember student response the most. The protest, hours of student testimony. Peer organizations formed to support women and other student survivors, while existing groups saw boosted support. New group chats sprouted to make sure students had company to walk home.

Hope persists for the classes after her.

“I won't say nothing has changed,” Mosley said, mind turning to awareness.

“I mean, I will say the social atmosphere of campus has definitely changed. A lot of new people are coming in, so they're not really aware of what really happened — the protests, the townhalls, stuff like that — but the people who were there, they are very aware.”

Got a story? Kelly Powers covers race, culture and equity for Delaware Online and USA TODAY Network Northeast, with a focus on education. Contact her at kepowers@gannett.com or (231) 622-2191, and follow her on Twitter @kpowers01.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Where is DSU progress one year after protest for campus safety?