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Utah State University officials plan to use recently awarded federal funds to help address sexual assault on campus, from hiring a new counselor to developing law enforcement training.

USU will receive $300,000 over three years from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women, allowing for a more "coordinated community response" to this problem, said Jennifer Roark, a criminologist and assistant professor of social work.

"We're trying to increase victim and survivor safety, while holding offenders responsible," said Roark.

The money will allow for a new counselor at the Sexual Assault and Anti-Violence Information office. The office provides confidential counseling to victims and currently has just one full time employee, Jenny Erazo.

Erazo will be able to step away from counseling and direct the coordinated community response efforts, Roark said.

"Right now, it's a one-woman show and I think the intensity of the situation and the number of victims who come forward" means more employees are needed, Roark said.

With the funds, an advocacy intern will be hired and a Spanish speaking therapist will be made available in the community she said.

Roark said the money also will be used for law enforcement training, both for university and Logan-area police officers. The training has yet to be developed, she added, but likely will revolve around statutory requirements and sensitivity toward victims.

The grant also will fund a peer-education program, she said.

While school officials already have started working on these changes, she said they plan to kick it off next semester.

Utah State was one of 45 higher education institutions —and the only Utah college — awarded the grant last month. The school applied for the grant in January, Roark said.

The money comes as officials work to address concerns raised in July when The Salt Lake Tribune reported that in 2015, three USU students — who did not know each other — separately reported to Logan police and to the school that they'd been sexually assaulted by fellow student Torrey Green, then a linebacker for USU's football team.

Prosecutors began re-examining the cases after the story was published, and Green was charged this month with four counts of rape, one count of aggravated kidnapping and one count of forcible sex abuse. He is in jail in California, awaiting extradition to Utah.

Under Title IX, a federal law that bars sex discrimination, schools that receive federal funding are required to swiftly investigate potential sexual violence and determine what occurred and whether there were more incidents.

The school has said an internal investigation revealed it "fell short" in handling the reports against Green but will not elaborate, saying the information is protected by federal law and could discourage victims from reporting sexual assault. In August, it released a list of eight recommendations for improving its approach to sexual assault.

Some of the ways USU is responding includes establishing working groups to examine sexual assault policies, implementing an education campaign about consent and developing an agreement with law enforcement and other community groups about how and when to share information.

Roark said she couldn't speak to the Green situation, but added that the federal funds announced will allow for some research, which could lead to officials discovering problems in the sexual assault reporting system on campus, for example, and recommending changes.

"I anticipate we'll be able to identify the cracks where some things fall through and it will get us in a place where we're working together as a team to address this issue," she said.

Twitter @alexdstuckey