Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Ross A Wantland" <>]

Ryan & others,

Not in the way you've state it exactly, but I do know of a pretty
intriguing bystander program. 

Dr. Victoria Banyard at the University of New Hampshire (and her
numerous colleagues) have created a pretty extensive bystander
intervention training program, focusing on some of the key pieces of
intervention research, including that bystanders must: 
1) recognize the problem
2) be asked to help
3) have role models who help them see how to intervene
4) believe they have support for their intervention from within the
group

Here was one of their first published articles:
Banyard, V. L., Plante, E. G., & Moynihan, M. M. (2004). Bystander
education: Bringing a broader community perspective to sexual violence
prevention. Journal of Community Psychology, 32, 61-79.

But additionally, I contacted Professor Banyard, and she provided me
with a bunch of her campus resources, including information about the
specific program they are implementing on their campus. They have a
whole training system for bystanders (& bystander trainers), and they're
researching it further. Her e-mail is 
,
 and I'm
sure she'd be willing to talk with you about this further (once finals
die down, that is). 

Also, with peer education work I've done with men in fraternities, I've
found that once these men understand sexual violence and how it happens,
they wind up 1) decreasing their drinking so they can 2) be more alert
to social situations that could potentially lead to sexual violence and
3) intervene if they need to. So to some extent, this bystander stuff
makes sense, BUT (and I'm pretty sure we're all on the same page here)
it can't be the Sex Police, going around to make sure everyone has the
appropriate Blood Alcohol Content to consent to sex. It needs to be done
in a respectful, community-building way. 

Hope this helps!
Peace,
Ross
(clearly avoiding grading my final projects)

"...[L]ike it or not, our liberation is bound up with that of every
other being on the planet, and...politically, spiritually, in our heart
of hearts we know anything else is unaffordable." 

                                             - Aurora Morales


-----Original Message-----
From: 

[mailto:]
 On Behalf Of Barone,Ryan P.
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 11:37 AM
To: 

Subject: Bystander Program?


Hello Friends,
 
At our university we have been approached by the local police department
wanting to address the number of "drunk women" in our major party/bar
areas who are being sexually assaulted.  The PD believes that the number
of sexual assaults is going up, and they want to combat this with a
bystander intervention program. 
 
We have done lots of education with the interested parties on victim
blaming and the dynamics of sexual assault reporting.  We believe the PD
is coming from a good place (at least the officer we are working with,
he took a Women's Studies class so he has some background).  As an
independent study, they would like to have a graduate student(s) walking
around the bar areas and checking in with visibly intoxicated women to
make sure they are with people they know.  Specifically, they will be
looking to intervene when men are assisting/carrying/helping visibility
incapacitated women. While we know that no harm is intended, our
concerns are that this could potentially be a set-back in terms of
putting the responsibility on potential victims to "prevent" sexual
assault from occurring. The argument we have gotten in response to this
is that it is worth it if it prevents just one sexual assault from
occurring, with the justification is that it is easier to identify
potential victims than potential perpetrators. 
 
There exists many logistics to be worked out, but we are soliciting some
preliminary thoughts.
 
We are wondering if any of your universities have any kind of structured
bystander intervention programs where students actually patrol parties
or the bar areas.  If so, who coordinates it?  Who does the training?
Are the participants men or women?  Do they wear identifiable clothing?
What kinds of liability issues have you had?    
 
Any insight would be extremely helpful.  Thanks for your time,
 

Ryan Barone

 
 
 
Ryan Barone
Men's Project Coordinator
Office of Women's Programs and Studies
112 Student Services
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523-8200

970-491-6384
970-491-4922 (fax)

_______________________________________________
SAPC mailing list

https://list.mail.Virginia.EDU/mailman/listinfo/sapc