Bystander Intervention Training Offers All a Role in Preventing Sexual Violence on Campus

Rutgers launches “We R Here” campaign to support victims of violence, share resources available across the university

“We are teaching students, faculty and staff how to be engaged as citizens. They need to know how you yourself can play a part in making the world a better place.”

 

–Brady Root

 

Rachel Clapsis considers herself lucky. One night at a fraternity party, after her friends had gone outside, a man she did not know started to pull her into a room. He cornered her against the wall. There was a mattress on the floor. She was scared.

“He was being really aggressive,” said Clapsis, 22, who will graduate from Rutgers-New Brunswick in May. “But someone walked round the corner and said something. It was just a split second, but it gave me enough time to leave.”

Clapsis, from Monroe Township, is one of more than a thousand students, faculty and staff at Rutgers in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden who have participated in bystander training in order to become more aware of what sexual violence looks like and how to prevent it from happening to someone else.

“We are teaching students, faculty and staff how to be engaged as citizens,” says Brady Root, prevention education coordinator at the Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance at Rutgers-New Brunswick. “They need to know how you yourself can play a part in making the world a better place.”

Bystander actions can mean different responses depending on the person and scenario. One person might step up with a direct confrontation while another might try to defuse the situation with a joke.  Finding another person to assist is also an appropriate response.

“We want to teach people how to operate in a way where they feel the most comfortable,” Root says. “We don’t want them to walk away and think there is nothing they can do.” 

Violence against women on college campuses is a major social problem. Research indicates that an estimated 1 in 5 women are sexually assaulted while in college. These experiences can lead to long-lasting effects, including substance abuse, physical and mental health problems and poor academic performance.

As part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month and National Crime Victims’ Rights Week in April, the university is rolling out a simple message on campuses in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden: “We R Here.” The goal is to let students know that no matter what campus they are on, support for victims of violence is available. Resources are also available for students, faculty and staff interested in learning how to offer support and be an active bystander.

“We want all students to understand that we are all responsible for the safety of our community and that assistance is available,” says Christie Howley, director of the Rutgers-Newark Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance. “We are teaching them that there are many different ways they can step in and get involved, which means it can be different for every individual.”

As part of a $2 million 2017 federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grant to augment existing services, training and education across the university, Rutgers has made it a priority to not only further develop the programs on each of the campuses, but to also increase awareness of available resources and the understanding that bystanders can make a difference.

Sarah McMahon, associate director of the Rutgers School of Social Work’s Center on Violence Against Women and Children and principal investigator on the grant, says the center worked with an advisory board, surveyed students on each campus and talked with administrators and learned that many students were unaware of the resources available.

“Violence, harassment, abuse and stalking should not be tolerated,” says Kayleigh Kenniff, coordinator for Student Support and Advocacy at Rutgers-Camden, which operates a Community Ambassador program with volunteers trained in bystander intervention. “We are all helping to change our world for the better.”

Rutgers has a long history of responding to and preventing campus sexual violence, providing support for victims of sexual assault, dating violence and stalking.  In 1991, Rutgers-New Brunswick established the Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance. In 2014, the university emerged as a leader when the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault asked it to pilot the campus climate survey tool at Rutgers-New Brunswick. With the $52 million “Enhancing Victim Services” grant, Rutgers-Newark and Rutgers-Camden now have dedicated offices to address sexual and dating violence as well.

To help create more awareness, throughout April, new climate surveys will determine what students know about sexual assault on campus and the resources they think are needed to address it. Events held on each campus during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, from April 8-14, will attempt to shed light on sexual assault and domestic violence while providing information about resources and the importance of speaking up.

Students like Imani Ali, who was assaulted in high school on the night of her senior prom, will be front and center talking about the importance of getting involved in prevention. Unlike Clapsis, no one stepped in or did anything to stop her attacker.

“They didn’t know any better,” says the 21-year-old Rutgers University-New Brunswick junior, who became involved in SCREAM (Students Challenging Realities and Educating Against Myths) Theatre that uses interactive skits to educate audiences on issues of interpersonal violence, specifically sexual assault, domestic and dating violence, stalking, sexual harassment and bullying. “They needed to be educated about what they should and could do, which is why what we are doing is so important.”