Recommendations
Committee on Sexual Assault Prevention
Priorities and Recommendations
April 2016
The Committee on Sexual Assault Prevention (CSAP), a cross campus committee composed of faculty, staff and students, both reviewed and discussed the 2015 Campus Climate Survey. Over many months, CSAP members worked within three subcommittees (Marketing, Education and Assessment) to determine the best strategies to address concerns and the themes that arose from the survey results. After forwarding recommendations from the subcommittees, CSAP as a plenary body is offering priorities and recommendations to the Vice President for Student Affairs and our campus community at large. These recommendations are goals to strive toward the next five years but we believe will achieve the following goals: continue to assist and support victims of sexual assault, ongoing assessment efforts to understand the needs of students, implementation of a variety of prevention initiatives, and collaboration among departments and student groups to comprehensively address sexual and interpersonal violence on our campus.
Resource visibility and access
Climate survey results highlight the need for increased awareness of and understanding of resources available to students for intervention, response and support. Notably, delineations between confidential and non-confidential resources, especially in the different positions within Campus Ministry,continue to cause confusion.
CSAP recommends the following steps to address this concern:
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Website: An institutional website with a URL that is easily accessible and not located within any one particular Division or Department. Links should be made available within different departments but we recommend that students be able to access a central site using “titleIX.nd.edu” where all information,including a way to report online, is included.
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Resource posters: A framed version of the 11x17 in resource poster is installed in each bathroom in the 29 undergraduate residence halls on campus, and in the academic and administrative buildings on campus. These posters explain confidential and non-confidential resources on/off campus for those impacted by sexual violence.
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Infographic: Develop a pictorial image of the Title IX process, the University conduct process, which would include resources with links to more in-depth information contained in du Lac.
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Mobile App for reporting: An online Title IX violation reporting tool for faculty, staff and students. Depending on information provided, which could include optional contact information, the appropriate administrator will respond.
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FAQ sheet: A short response sheet to the most commonly asked questions about Resources, Title IX, Clery Warnings and Community Standards Process.
Increased awareness of alcohol’s impact on campus culture, relationships especially responsibility to obtain consent, barriers to intervention and challenges to reporting
The impact of alcohol and other substances on different aspects of campus life remains an area of growth. Students understand the need for and the components of consent but are less clear on how alcohol factors into one’s ability to and responsibility to seek and to receive consent. Students also identify potential conduct policy violations of parietals and alcohol as barriers for either seeking to help others and/or reporting a situation of sexual misconduct or assault.
CSAP recommends the following steps to address these concerns:
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Focus groups: Questions about alcohol and other substances need to be further explored, especially as it relates to campus culture, consent and responsibility as well as barriers to bystander intervention and reporting.
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Campaign to Raise Awareness around Alcohol Culture: Determine which campus unit is best suited to launch a passive campaign (poster idea ”I’m having so much fun” with images of ‘typical’ party scenes)to raise awareness around the culture of binge drinking and taking personal responsibility alongside intervening on behalf of our brothers and sisters in the community. Potential programs should offer students ideas to responsibly consume alcohol without using alcohol to avoid the awkwardness of social relationships and/or to avoid the complexity of consent where harm to another through sexual misconduct or assault occurs.
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Campus Wide Discussion: There is also a need to have a campus wide conversation about the role of alcohol within our community and its impact on relationships among students (barriers to intervening and expectations of responsibility to act on behalf of fellow students). CSAP also recommends more discussion around the impact of alcohol including alcohol policies and the perception of differentiated enforcement within residence halls.
Education beyond the first year that includes Title IX process, policies and bystander intervention
Survey results show that students receive comprehensive education about policies, processes and prevention, including the types of resources available to support students, during the first year of their ND experience. However, programs beyond first year are optional and, as the climate survey shows, they are not highly attended by students. Results indicate a need for more educational opportunities that provide students a review of policies, processes as well as prevention strategies throughout the entirety of their ND experience.
CSAP recommends the following steps to address these concerns:
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Mandatory education: There should be some form of mandatory review of policies, processes, resources and prevention strategy for every student at every level. Upcoming focus groups would help determine what content students would find helpful to review as well as methods on how to offer the information(on-line, residence hall based, etc.). There should also be a tracking system and an assessment component to this recommendation. Targeted populations should include graduate and professional students, as well as international students, focusing on the transition from one culture to another.
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Consent education: Consent education should allow students to safely ask questions about different situations to understand the complexity of consent alongside the stages of physical intimacy. The focus should also be on the holistic, relational components of consent to avoid the perception that consent is an item on a “to do” list obtained by completing a checklist. Options to consider: a FAQ sheet or video that breaks down the different points about consent through different scenarios.
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Content beyond sexual misconduct and assault: Information related to the Violence Against Women Act(VAWA) and other forms of interpersonal/relationship violence (dating/domestic violence, stalking)needs to be included as comprehensively as sexual misconduct and assault. Content should also explore cultural norms and strategies about culture change.
Promotion of greeNDot as a campus wide initiative to encourage culture change and to increase prevention strategies beyond innovators and early adopters
GreeNDot as a campus initiative has had varying success. Content related to greeNDot can be more customized given climate survey data, particularly information related to barriers to intervening and frequency of other forms of interpersonal violence. Faculty, staff and students are aware of the program but view it as related to a specific department’s work. Further, campus has not been mobilized to engage proactively to the level where culture change occurs. Participation in bystander training is increasing but not consistent.
CSAP recommends the following steps to address these concerns:
- Focus groups: Questions within focus groups should discern the level at which students are aware of greeNDot and the varying options for participation (proactive, reactive, bystander training, etc.).
- Promotion of greeNDot as a University initiative: Support of greeNDot should occur at the highest level of leadership as well as be visible through a University website and mobile app that are referenced by different departments. We recommend greeNDot have a URL of greendot.nd.edu as well as its own icon on ND Mobile rather than housed under Student Affairs or NDSP.
- Engagement of students, especially leaders: Given the foundation provided this year, an overview of greeNDot should be part of the Moreau First Year Experience course to help form first year students. However, further development needs to occur with upper-class students particularly student leaders. We recommend that every year, hall staff, groups under Student Government (SG Cabinet, SUB, Student Senate, and Hall President’s Council), Diversity Council, RecSports Captains, FYS Peer Advisors, and Graduate Student Union, allow time for a sixty minute greeNDot overview. The Steering Committee will also work with Student Welfare and Development for all teams to receive overviews. Overviews to all of these groups provide a foundation for which the rest of campus can be engaged with greeNDot as a University initiative.
- Engagement of faculty and staff: Whenever information about policies related to sexual harassment, misconduct and assault are provided, an overview of greeNDot as a campus prevention strategy should be presented as well. We recommend that the following faculty groups are provided a greeNDot overview: Faculty Senate, University Committee for Women Faculty and Students, First Year Studies Faculty, and Professional Specialists. This will require different staff members to be trained in greeNDot, particularly with its inclusion in wide ranging staff and faculty presentations.
- Engagement of graduate and professional students: We suggest to the greeNDot Steering Committee to develop training specific to graduate students where scenarios would include the tools of power, beyond alcohol, that this population may encounter, such as letters of recommendation, stipends, etc. There should be awareness of how dynamics may differ (persons with whom you socialize are also professional colleagues at various levels) as well as locations of incidences (i.e. professional conferences). We also recommend that a discussion be brought to the Graduate Advisory Committee on how to best access graduate students and provide programs related to their specific violence prevention needs.
- Development of greeNDot content: greeNDot presentations and trainings should include ND specific statistics as well as information about the specific types of barriers our students experience that prevent intervention and reporting.