In a perfect world, students would attend college and not once worry about their risk for sexual assault. Unfortunately, this is not the case for students in higher education. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights released a Dear Colleague Letter, which stated that one in five women will experience sexual assault while in college (Ali, 2011). In fall 2017, approximately 20 million students enrolled for the fall semester, 11.5 million of which were female (National Center for Education Statistics, 2018). Going by that one in five prediction, 2.3 million of these women will experience a sexual assault while in college, which does not take into account men or students in the LGBT community. One rape is already one rape too many. But millions? Higher education institutions need to take action.
Over the past several decades, policies and law continues to adapt to help address the issue of sexual assault on college campuses. Title IX of the Education of Amendments Act (1972) in particular drives institutions to take immediate action to address and eliminate any instance of sexual assault that the institution knows of or reasonably should know of and sets up requirements for reporting and responding to sexual assault. While such Title IX procedures do assist victims of sexual assault on campus, this process does little to assist those who fail to report. The Association of American Universities’ climate survey found that only 28% of students reported their sexual assault to an organization or agency (Cantor, Fisher, Chibnall, Lee, Bruce, & Thomas, 2017). Students provided reasons such as the assault not being serious enough to report, feeling embarrassed, or that they though the institution would not help them. If institutions really want to help victims of sexual assault, they need to start thinking proactively.
In order to combat sexual assault, some higher education institutions are starting to implement violence prevention programs on their campuses that focus on the bystander intervention approach (Moynihan, Banyard, Cares, Potter, Williams, & Stapleton, 2015). Bystander intervention emphasizes teaching people how to intervene safely in situations involving sexual assault and violence. Programs frequently focus on providing a variety of intervention methods, which include directly getting involved, delegating the issue to someone more capable to intervene, or creating a distraction in order to de-escalate the situation. Training also focuses on educating people about the targeting strategies used by motivated offenders and helps educate individuals on how to protect themselves from predatory behavior.
Prevention programming comes in a variety of forms. Rutgers University (2018) implemented SCREAM Theater at their institution, which stands for Students Challenging Realities and Education Against Myths Theater. Running 75 minutes, the program shows a sexual assault based on real-life scenarios, acts out various bystander perspectives to avoid the assault, and then allows time for the actors to answer audience questions. Another option colleges can utilize is Green Dot. Developed by the non-profit organization Alertistic (2018), Green Dot works to establish a campus culture that does not tolerate acts of power based personal violence, specifically targeting sexual assault, stalking, and domestic violence. The Green Dot training program includes a 50-minute motivational speech and then an intensive training course that takes four to six hours to complete. The University of Arizona’s Commitment to an Athletes Total Success life skills program paired with the National Collegiate Athletic Association to develop Step UP! (Step Up! Program, 2018). Within the program, students learn about five decision-making steps and how to apply them to any crisis situation, including sexual assault. These steps include noticing the event, interpreting if the event constitutes a problem or emergency, assuming personal responsibility, identifying necessary skills or knowledge to intervene, and then implementing help in either a direct or indirect capacity.
When planning a program, keep in mind that research shows that the strongest prevention programs provide comprehensive change strategies that utilize more than one outreach option (Casey & Lindhorst, 2009). Such options include utilizing and combining media campaigns, small group programming, and educational presentations in order to make the biggest impact on students. In addition, look for grant opportunities while planning. The Office on Violence Against Women (2018) offers grant opportunities specifically for higher education institutions attempting to reduce sexual assault, dating and domestic violence, and stalking. In addition, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2018) offers grants specifically targeting rape prevention and education. Raliance (2018) is a national collaboration that provides grants to support ending sexual violence, awarding $1.2 million between July 2016 and June 2017. Many funding opportunities exist for institutions that wish to make a difference.
Attending college should not be a dangerous time for students. Policies on how to handle reporting and investigating sexual assaults help, but do little to prevent the problem from occurring. A violence prevention program can make the difference in a young freshmen’s life, teaching them early on what targeting behaviors look like. These programs can teach students how to support their community by becoming an active bystander in ways that protect others yet also promote their own personal safety. Prevention training helps campuses become safer and encourages students to become stronger community leaders. With benefits like these, higher education holds a responsibility to take action against sexual assault prevention.
Kimberly Schow, HSU Doctorate in Leadership Student
Coordinator for Access Services, Dick Smith Library, Tarleton State University
Kimberly.Schow@hsutx.edu
References
Ali, R. (2011). Dear colleague letter. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. Retrieved from https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201104.pdf
Alteristic. (2018). Green Dot for colleges. Retrieved from https://alteristic.org/services/green-dot/green-dot-colleges/
Cantor, D., Fisher, W. B., Chibnall, S. , Lee, H., Bruce, C., & Thomas, G. (2017). Report on the AAU campus climate survey on sexual assault and sexual misconduct. Washington, DC: Association of American Universities. Retrieved from https://www.aau.edu/sites/default/files/AAU-Files/Key-Issues/Campus-Safety/AAU-Campus-Climate-Survey-FINAL-10-20-17.pdf
Casey, E. A., & Lindhorst, T. P. (2009). Toward a multi-level, ecological approach to the primary prevention of sexual assault prevention in peer and community contexts. Trauma Violence & Abuse, 10(2), 91-114.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). Rape prevention and education: Transforming communities to prevent sexual violence. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/RPE/index.html
Moynihan, M. M., Banyard, V. L., Cares, A. C., Potter, S. J., Williams, L. M., & Stapleton, J. G. (2015). Encouraging responses in sexual and relationship violence prevention: What program effects remain 1 year later? Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 30(1), 110-132.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2018). Fast facts. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372
Raliance. (2018). Selected first-round Raliance grants. Retrieved from http://www.raliance.org/selected-first-round-raliance-grants-2016-2017/
Rutgers University. (2018). What is SCREAM Theater? Retrieved from http://vpva.rutgers.edu/scream-theater-and-scream-athletes/what-is-scream-theater/
Step Up! Program. (2018). About. Retrieved from http://stepupprogram.org/about/
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §1681-1688 (1972)
U.S. Department of Justice. (2018). Grant programs. Retrieved from https://www.justice.gov/ovw/grant-programs
Ponderings 