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

[Rob Buelow <>]

Hi Marie,

Really appreciate your question. In some regards, the momentum of the past several years and the acceleration of #metoo has changed the game for us. Sexual assault and harassment are now more than ever acknowledged as widespread, shared challenges. While there may be some who incorrectly associate highly visible messaging with increased prevalence, my experience is that this sort of outward commitment is now expected by most students, parents, etc. 

The challenge we face is one of framing, and I think there are some great opportunities to leverage campaigns like this to bring other stakeholders into our camp (communications, alumni relations, etc.). A few talking points come to mind for me:

1. Transparency is a leading practice. When a school publishes their climate survey data, they are showing a degree of institutional courage and accountability that can build a huge amount of trust and goodwill. 
   
2. The opposite of institutional courage is institutional betrayal. There is a great line of research on this, and it has to do with the exacerbated harm associated with things like lack of proactive steps, making it difficult to report, etc. - these are things that are within our control, and it matters.
3. System-wide buy-in is critical. Investment and visibility (particularly from senior leaders) sets the tone around how committed the institution is to these priority issues. 
4. The "risks" of being proactive are far outweighed by the costs of going into reactive mode. The things we do to demonstrate our commitment to protecting and supporting students before a crisis happens are the things we can point to if/when an incident occurs.
5. Students that receive information about reporting resources and processes are more likely to report than those who do not receive this information. This finding came from an analysis of EVERFI's 2016 climate survey data, where sexual assault survivors who received training on things like confidential resources were 2.5x more likely to report to their school compared to survivors who did not receive this training (10% vs 4%, respectively).

Would love to hear other thoughts on this!

Rob

On Tue, Jul 3, 2018 at 12:48 PM, Attis-Springs, Marie <> wrote:

Hello all,

I was inspired by a question posed about a year ago on this listserv regarding mirror clings for Non-confidential verses Confidential victim/survivor resources .  Some of you even shared visuals of yours on here ( I remember Tulane's One wave and and MIT's Title IX map , pretty vividly).  So I was inspired to create one for our institution and was posed a few valid and probably common questions:

  

#1 Are there any downsides?  Could someone argue that having these everywhere might convey to external visitors like elected officials, donors and prospective students that we have a bigger problem with sexual assault here than other campuses?  

#2 Why we would not want to broaden this to not be a mirror cling solely about confidential and non confidential sources, but perhaps a space for social norms marketing about Alcohol, drugs, sexual assault, etc. Why are we recommending only this singular focus?

I'm hoping I could pick your brains particularly on your thoughts on number one.  By the way, there are all kinds of other social norms messaging (from AOD, suicide to sexuality) all over our campus. 

I think I have #2 covered, but please comment and advise on both.  My argument is that this cling is about timing. It is specifically targeted (but not limited) to recent victims/survivors as an immediate resource after an assault.  I'm talking as recent as the perpetrator might be in the next room and the assault might have occurred just minutes ago.  However, promoting our resources in anyway shows that our institution is proactive and are conscience that survivors may not have, or may not be thinking that there is support for them right after an assault.  But since most victims of rape (if they are able) use the bathroom and often look into a mirror, then what better way to remind them that we are there for them.  

If anyone has any data to support my claim to using these clings, please share as well.

Thanks in advance,

Marie

Marie D. Attis-Springs, MPA

Prevention Education Specialist & Coordinator 

O

​ffice of Violence Prevention

(201) 684-7430

 

505 Ramapo Valley Road
Mahwah, NJ 07430

“It was a catch-22: If you didn’t put the trauma behind you, you couldn’t move on. But if you did put the trauma behind you, you willingly gave up your claim to the person you were before it happened.” 

― Jodi Picoult, The Tenth Circle

Victim? Survivor?---- PERSPECTIVE--- Who are we to judge?

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Rob Buelow

Vice President, Prevention Education
332 Congress St, 3rd Floor 
Boston, MA 02210

P 781.315.4581

 
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