against the sexual abuse of children. “We did everything in [the ballroom],” Driftmier said. “Everything from the meetings, the keynote lectures, to feeding people lunch. … We had to do our buf- fet lines actually in the hallway outside these four rooms, as well as our coffee service.” With the space procured, Staley — who had never planned a
conference before — and MacKenzie then set out to decide on the scope of CSAC and whom they were trying to reach. “I think the fact that we were hearing all this misinformation [about sexual abuse],” Staley said, “in the community and from Penn Staters, that it rapidly became very clear that we wanted to reach a lay audience — that we did not just want it to be an academic/ research audience. … The misinformation was very much among our neighbors, our friends, the local and regional media.” To promote the conference and attract attendees, the Justice
Center sent out a number of mass-market emails “to very spe- cific constituencies,” Staley said. “A whole bunch of university constituencies [and] to everybody we could think of that was child-related, from churches to schools.” Penn State also hired public-relations firm Edelman — which has offices across the country and is experienced in managing controversial issues for large institutions such as colleges and universities — to help pro- mote the conference. Their efforts paid off: CSAC sold out just three weeks after
registration opened. Between the limited event space and the sen- sitive nature of the topic, attendees would be carefully contained in one area of the hotel. Penn State had staff members on hand checking credentials — participant, media, and staff — of anyone who tried to gain access to the hallway where the meeting rooms were located.
Counterpunch Retired boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard spoke to the group of 500 attendees at Penn State’s conference about his childhood sexual abuse.
‘THE HEART OF SOMEONE’ From the outset, the organizers knew that they wanted CSAC to be a research-based conference with substantive content. The plan was to focus on the epidemiology of child sexual abuse, how it affects young children and adolescents, and treatment and prevention — almost a 101-style lesson on the topic. “We really wanted it to be based in research,” Staley said, “because that draws from Penn State’s strengths — we are a top-notch research institution.” But as a researcher herself, she knew that it was important to find speakers who could translate their evidence- based work into terms that would be accessible and understand- able to the lay audience, which included members of the Penn State community. “I believe, as a therapist and a researcher, that change comes from increasing people’s knowledge — increasing their awareness that there is a problem and how prevalent it is — and then engaging their hearts so that they feel the need and the understanding and the motivation to change.” There would be experts such as Lucy Berliner, MSW, direc-
tor of the Harborview Center for Sexual Assault and Traumatic Stress in Seattle, and David Finkelhor, Ph.D., director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of