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Campus Sexual Violence Prevention Program Elements, Partnerships and Modalities

The following charts describe program elements, partnerships and modalities that are common and widely used on college campuses across the country. The strategies discussed below have not necessarily been evaluated and are not necessarily best practice, evidence-based or evidence-informed; rather, they provide an overview of what many campuses are doing in practice.

ELEMENTS:

Anti-oppression work
Definition
Examines sexual violence in the context of an anti-oppression framework, “actively working to acknowledge and shift power towards inclusiveness, accessibility, equity and social justice; being conscious and active in the process of learning and recognizing that the process as well as the product is important; and creating a space where people are safe, but can also be challenged.” (Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance, 2009. Guidelines for the Primary Prevention of Sexual Violence & Intimate Partner Violence, retrieved from http://www.communitysolutionsva.org/files/Prevention_Guidelines_20092.pdf.)
Theory and Assumptions
Since sexual violence exists and persists in the context of a wide variety of oppressions, SVP efforts that are infused with anti-oppression work will address the root causes of sexual violence and provide linkages between and among different social justice movements.
“Sexual violence prevention is intrinsically linked with ending all forms of oppression including sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism, transphobia, ableism, adultism and ageism, among others. It is important that prevention initiatives acknowledge and address these inequalities.” National Sexual Violence Resource Center. (2012). Qualities and abilities of effective and confident prevention practitioners. Retrieved from http://nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/Publications_NSVRC_Guide_Qualities-Abilities-Effective-Confident-Prevention-Practitioners.pdf.
Notable Examples and Resources
Humboldt University Stop Rape: Response & Prevention
Portland Community College Sexual Assault Free Environment (SAFE)
Challenges and Gaps
An anti-oppression framework is inherently political in nature, and some stakeholders may not agree with the analysis. Besides addressing sexism and heterosexism (examples, according to the CDC and othersources, include: reducing hostility toward women, challenging hegemonic gender ideals, links between homophobic bullying and sexual harassment), there is no empirical evidence that addressing other forms of oppression will prevent sexual violence.
Opportunities
By linking sexual violence prevention with other social justice movements, there is an opportunity for broader alliances and collaboration in which sexual violence prevention is included. This analysis often is used in community-based rape crisis centers and aligns well with people in non-dominant (marginalized) groups and with feminist understandings of sexual violence.
Bystander intervention
Definition
Teaches safe and positive options that may be carried out by an individual to prevent harm or intervene in situations where there is a risk of sexual violence against another person, and sometimes to intervene against attitudes and norms that are risk factors for sexual violence perpetration, such as hostility toward women. Effective bystander intervention training prepares participants to recognize situations of potential harm, overcome barriers to intervening, identify safe and effective intervention options and take action.
Theory and Assumptions
If people are trained to be active bystanders, they may prevent instances of sexual violence from occurring. Moreover, if people are trained to recognize and intervene against cultural norms and attitudes that support or tolerate sexual violence, they can change norms over time and create a culture in which sexual violence and attitudes that support it are not tolerated.
Notable Examples and Resources
Some programs have materials and evaluation data demonstrating shifts in attitudes, knowledge and behavioral intent. Examples:

There is also a wide variety of “home grown” and student-developed bystander campaigns implemented at many campuses.
Challenges and Gaps
Many campuses attempt to encourage bystander intervention through one presentation, often as short as an hour, which is not sufficient dosage to change behaviors. The implementation of bystander intervention programs varies widely and is not always done systematically.
Bystander intervention programming can lead to changes in attitudes, skills, intentions, and some behaviors, which, in theory, may help contribute to a community that is intolerant of sexual violence. However, there is no strong evidence that this type of programming reduces sexual violence perpetration behaviors.
Opportunities
Bystander intervention is appealing to a wide variety of audiences because it offers people a way to get involved in SVP without implicating them as either a potential perpetrator or a potential victim. It can also help make the issue of sexual violence relevant to everyone, even if they do not feel like sexual violence directly affects them. The positive messaging resonates well with many campuses, and it can be easier to build campus buy-in with this strategy than with others.
Some bystander intervention programs have shown increases in participants’ self-reported bystander behaviors, and many have demonstrated changes in attitudes about violence. If enough people act as bystanders both in situations of potential violence and against sexist, homophobic, and other oppressive language and behaviors, the bystander intervention approach can lead to cultural change. A culture of bystander intervention is a culture with community norms that do not tolerate sexual violence or attitudes that support it. The bystander program can also address the roots of violence and understand how that feeds sexual violence.
Connecting alcohol education and policy with SVP
Definition
Alcohol education programs, policies (including amnesty policies) and frameworks may include a component around sexual violence prevention in alcohol education frameworks, policies and programs. Alternatively, a survivor may be given information about alcohol treatment.
Theory and Assumptions
Alcohol is a risk factor for perpetrating and/or experiencing sexual violence and may contribute to an environment that is conducive for perpetration. Some believe that if there is less alcohol, there is an overall safer school climate.
Notable Examples and Resources
Abbey, A. (2002). Alcohol-related sexual assault: A common problem among college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Retrieved from https://www.jsad.com/doi/abs/10.15288/jsas.2002.s14.118
Abbey, A. (1991). Acquaintance rape and alcohol consumption on college campuses: How are they linked? Journal of American College Health, 39(4),165-169. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07448481.1991.9936229#.VCwzHy5dUwI
Abbey, A., Zawacki, T., Buck, P., Clinton, M., & McAuslan, P. (2001). Alcohol and sexual assault. Alcohol Research & Health, 25(1), 43-51. Retrieved from http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh25-1/43-51.htm?utm_content=buffer0ecca&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer
Lippy, C. & DeGue, S. (2014) Exploring Alcohol Policy Approaches to Prevent Sexual Violence Perpetration, Trauma, Violence and Abuse. Advance online publication. Retrieved fromhttp://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1524838014557291?journalCode=tvaa
Challenges and Gaps
Alcohol use does not cause sexual violence; it is a tool that perpetrators can use to facilitate it.
If SVP is inappropriately addressed only as part of alcohol programming rather than integrated into a comprehensive campus strategy, sexual violence may be seen primarily as an alcohol issue. Online modules may reinforce incomplete or harmful messages (e.g. when messaging encourages women to limit alcohol consumption as means to reduce risk, the burden of prevention is placed on potential victims, rather than potential perpetrators). Conflating the role of alcohol use in sexual violence may excuse violent behavior, contribute to a culture of victim blaming and prevent survivors from seeking services or reporting sexual violence. Although these issues are not all directly related to primary prevention of perpetration, they contribute to a social environment that is tolerant of sexual violence and that fails to hold perpetrators accountable, which increases risk of sexual violence perpetration.
Although institutions may have informal amnesty practices that prioritize the response to sexual violence over underage alcohol violations, survivors and students in general are often unaware of these practices, if they exist.
There is also no evidence that social norms campaigns related to alcohol and sexual abuse reduce likelihood of perpetrating sexual violence.
Opportunities
There is evidence that restricting access to alcohol on campuses or in specific residence halls is associated with decreased sexual violence victimization, but the effect depends on how accessible alcohol is in the community surrounding the campus (Lippy & DeGue, 2014).
More broadly, alcohol amnesty policies and practices that do not excuse sexual violence perpetrated using alcohol can contribute to a community that appropriately sanctions sexual violence perpetrators.
Consent education
Definition
Typically focuses on increasing knowledge about the elements of consent (making sure one is not pressuring anyone or being pressured into sexual activity), the importance of consent, supporting consistent community sanctions and making consent a community norm.
Theory and Assumptions
People do not fully understand the concept of consent and how it applies to different situations—that all parties must agree to all sexual activity, that consent can be withdrawn at any time, that consent must be freely and capably given and that sex without consent is always rape. If consent is fully understood, then there will be less sexual violence. Often, consent education programs assume that students have not been engaging in sexual activity before coming to college.
Notable Examples and Resources
University of Oregon Sexual Violence Prevention & Education campaigns.

University of Wisconsincampaign.

The New School Radical Consent.

On different conceptualizations of consent:
Beres, M. (2007). ‘Spontaneous’ sexual consent: An analysis of sexual consent literature. Feminism & Psychology, 17(1), 93-108. Retrieved fromhttp://fap.sagepub.com/content/17/1/93.short
Yes Means Yes: Lafrance, D., Loe, M., & Brown, S. (2012). “Yes means yes:” A new approach to sexual assault prevention and positive sexuality promotion. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 7(4), 445-460). Retrieved fromhttp://www.colgate.edu/docs/d_offices-and-services_deanofthecollege_meetthedeans_dean-brown/pdf-1-18-13-02.pdf?sfvrsn=2
There is also a wide variety of “home grown” and student-developed consent education campaigns implemented at many campuses.
California passed a law that requires colleges to develop and implement an Affirmative Consent policy in order to receive state funding.
Challenges and Gaps

  • Students state there is a strong disconnect between people who are professionals developing “consent campaigns” and what students think is relevant and important.
  • Consent campaigns typically focus on making consent a community norm; however, some do it from a liability or punitive perspective.
  • Campuses should be wary of reinforcing the myth that sexual violence happens through miscommunication or misunderstanding, rather than an intentional decision to disregard victims’ wishes.
  • Education on consent does not necessarily comprehensively address the opportunity to promote healthy sexuality and talk about sex as a collaborative process, rather than an exchange.
  • There is no evidence of the effectiveness in reducing sexual violence with consent campaigns.

Opportunities
Consent education can serve as health promotion, which is aspirational and communicates what a community is for, not just what it is against. There is potential for consent campaigns to evolve into direct discussions with students about respectful, collaborative sexuality and mutual sex, including skills to encourage active and respectful participation in sexual behavior. This can contribute to relationships and communities that are tolerant of only this kind of collaborate, mutual sex, and thus intolerant of sexual violence.
When campus communities and policies uphold a standard of affirmative consent in determining responsibility for sexual violence, more perpetrators can be held accountable in internal proceedings. Again, this can create a community that is intolerant of sexual violence, which may lead to reduced perpetration.

Engaging men
Definition
Engages men who identify as being interested in preventing sexual violence. May include exploring masculinity and gender socialization and how these link to risk factors for perpetrating sexual violence. May also include support groups for men.
Theory and Assumptions
Since a majority of sexual violence perpetrators are men, but most men do not perpetrate sexual violence, men are an important part of the solution to preventing sexual violence. Including men in SVP efforts can help make the issue of sexual violence relevant to everyone, instead of just a women’s issue.
Notable Examples and Resources

Challenges and Gaps

  • Many efforts to engage men are focused on limited audiences like fraternities or athletic teams, when norms change and gender equity are important for all men (and others) on campus.
  • Although men have an important role in prevention, engaging men should not be considered the primary task of prevention. Changing gender-related risk factors for sexual violence perpetration requires involvement from people of all genders.
  • There is a tension between underlying motivation of targeting men because they are most often the perpetrators (though most men are not sexual violence perpetrators) and wanting to engage men in a positive, constructive way.
  • There is a wide variety of strategies and objectives for engaging men; some are more effective than others. For example, Jewkes, Flood & Lang recommend that programs engaging men should explicitly address attitudes, norms, and behaviors related to ideals of masculinity.

Opportunities

  • Including men in prevention work is necessary to prevent sexual violence perpetration.
  • Engaging people of all genders with the objective of changing gender norms and ideals has the potential to lead to effective and sustained gender transformation.
  • Because gender impacts risk factors across the socio-ecological model, gender transformation can reduce various risk factors on multiple levels.
  • Engaging men as part of this work can help change SVP from a women’s issue to a campus-wide issue.
  • Some engaging men programs have given participants course credit for SVP curricula, which enables higher dosage programming and increased participant and the ability to make and measure longer-term change.

Gender equity
Definition
Strategies that promote gender equity, as used in the context of SVP, seek to deconstruct collectively learned biases and/or norms that support gender-based oppression. Strategies that promote gender equity take a social change perspective to dismantle gender-based oppression by advancing behaviors, norms, policies, practices and structures that ensure equitable access to status, resources, opportunities and rights for all.
Because individuals across the gender spectrum create and transmit culture, strategies that promote gender equity can engage single gender or mixed gender audiences.
Theory and Assumptions
Gender-based oppression contributes to conditions that tolerate, facilitate and excuse sexual violence. Moreover, because sexual violence is motivated by power and control, making access to power and rights more equitable will decrease community acceptance of sexual violence. Thus, increased gender equity will lead to reduced sexual violence victimization.
Notable Examples and Resources

Challenges and Gaps
Gender equity is often a component of other programs, such as engaging men, consent education or bystander intervention programs, but it is not typically the sole or primary focus of prevention programs on campus. Those that do focus primarily on gender equity are often women’s empowerment programs, which by nature exclude people who do not identify as women. Gender equity is a broader goal than SVP, so priorities of gender equity programs can shift away from sexual violence. Also, gender equity programming may or may not be inclusive of people with non-binary gender identities.
Opportunities

  • People of all gender identities are agents of change in the community, and changes in gender norms need to come from people of all genders.
  • Gender equity approaches may maintain close ties with feminist roots of anti-rape movement.
  • Gender inequity is a root cause of sexual violence and other violence against women.
  • People with non-gender-conforming identities may be at higher risk for sexual violence; increasing gender equity may help address this increased risk.
  • Articulating a gender analysis is an important component of a comprehensive SVP strategy.

Media literacy
Definition
Teaches people to identify and critique negative sexualized mass media and understand its impact.
Theory and Assumptions
People exposed to uncensored, sexualized and sexually objectifying media without sufficient ability to analyze and critique their messages may develop high-risk attitudes regarding sexual violence. Equipping the public with skills to analyze and deconstruct media messages that promote norms supporting sexual violence can contribute to SVP. Many college students are at an ideal time in their lives to critically analyze such messages, both cognitively and because they are prime media targets and consumers.
Notable Examples and Resources

  • New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault curriculum
  • Basics of media literacy
  • Common examples of instruction materials include Dreamworlds and Killing Us Softly.
  • There is also a wide variety of “home grown” and student-developed media literacy campaigns implemented at many campuses.

Challenges and Gaps
While media literacy is a well-known and well-developed approach in many fields, it is less utilized for SVP. Additionally, because media are changing day-by-day and even minute-by minute, media literacy requires continual updates to curricula, heavy staff time and a significant amount of resources.
To conduct media literacy activities focused on SVP also requires expertise around issues like racism, classism and other manifestations of oppression, as the issues are intersectional and cannot be approached in isolation.
There is no evidence that media literacy activities prevent sexual violence perpetration.
Opportunities
Media literacy is a popular and effective way to engage young people, as it allows for use of popular culture and helps those using the strategy “stay current.” It also offers an opportunity to take an intersectional approach to SVP, as many media messages combine sexual violence and issues like racism. It is often a great place to start in prevention programming in terms of identifying the problem and facilitates moving to a positive approach, exploring how to replace negative media messages with positive messages. It also helps reveal how societal and environmental factors shape individual attitudes and behaviors and how culture can be supportive of sexual violence perpetration. It is possible that people with strong media literacy related to sexual objectification and violence can shape and change media messaging in the future, contributing to societal level change.

Risk reduction (RR)

Definition
Mitigates variables that may increase the likelihood of perpetration or victimization, helping individuals and communities manage the structures or conditions that facilitate sexual violence with a goal to increase safety. May include a campus escort program, education on how to create individual and community safety plans and how to recognize and interrupt situations of harm and/or communications systems that notify the entire campus of immediate threats to security. While the goal of risk reduction is not always primary prevention of sexual violence perpetration, it is an important component of comprehensive prevention efforts.
Theory and Assumptions
Targeted RR education can help students to identify sexual violence as a potential danger, increase awareness of the problem, strengthen resiliency, understand the impact of the harm on them as individuals and on the community and build skills to combat sexual violence.
Notable Examples and Resources

  • Self-defense, healthy sexuality, bystander intervention and public safety programs are all examples of RR.
  • Research on self-defense and actual resistance behavior:
  • Gidycz, C. & Dardis, C. (2014). Feminist self-defense and resistance training for college students: A critical review and recommendations for the future. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 15(4), 322-333. Retrieved from http://tva.sagepub.com/content/15/4/322
  • Brecklin, L. & Ullman, S. (2005). Self-defense or assertiveness training and women’s responses to sexual attacks. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20(6), 738-762. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15851540
  • Research on alcohol consumption and vulnerability to sexual victimization:
  • Testa, M. & Livingston, J. (2009). Alcohol consumption and women’s vulnerability to sexual victimization: Can reducing women’s drinking prevent rape? Substance Use & Misuse, 44(9-10), 1349-1376. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2784921/

Challenges and Gaps
There is a wide range of self-defense and risk reduction programs, and some of them may be used to justify victim blaming and detract from primary prevention of perpetration. It is important that any self-defense classes or other risk reduction strategies are informed by feminist and anti-oppression theory in order to avoid this possibility.
SVP activities can also become focused on only one type of risk within the umbrella of risk (such as alcohol misuse), or on risk reduction instead of primary prevention of perpetration, rather than in addition to it. Such narrow focus may undermine the comprehensiveness of prevention efforts.
Opportunities
RR can be used for the empowerment of individuals and can increase in safety as part of a holistic prevention strategy. RR can also be used to create institutional and organizational environments that are more prohibitive of sexual violence.
Sexual health promotion
Definition
Approaches that promote healthy sexual behaviors, norms and relationships. This is a positive approach that answers the question of what to promote, rather than just what to criticize.
Healthy sexuality should always include consent; in this way, sexual health promotion can be similar to consent education.
Theory and Assumptions
Healthy sexuality is an essential component of overall health. It includes freedom from sexual and relationship violence. Promoting positive behaviors and norms around sexuality and relationships will reduce risk factors, increase protective factors and create community environments in which sexual violence cannot occur.
Notable Examples and Resources
Defining sexual health:

Sexual health promotion practitioners have been trying to incorporate sexual and domestic violence more. For example, several states have sexual health plans that include sexual violence, and many states have passed comprehensive sexuality education laws that include sexual and domestic violence.
Regarding colleges, healthy sexuality education and campaigns usually come out of the health education office or similar offices.

Challenges and Gaps
Sexual health and SVP have traditionally been siloed, but both fields are working to bridge the two issues.
Sexual health work has traditionally focused on issues like teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDs. The focus on these traditional issues has been a barrier for getting SVP on sexual health agendas.
Many colleges promote abstinence only, which fails to provide a framework that distinguishes between consensual and coercive sex.
There is no evidence that promoting sexual health reduces sexual violence perpetration.
Opportunities
Many students find sexual health particularly salient, and students are leading the way in pressuring their campuses to teach about healthy sexuality and relationships, include it in policies, etc. There is currently a clear opportunity to leverage student interest in healthy sexuality to ensure that messaging about the centrality of consent reaches a wide audience of students.
One particular field, sex positivity, combines messaging of healthy sexuality with the assertion that any form of sexual desire and sexual diversity are acceptable, provided that sexual expression involves only consenting adults and does not lead to serious harm. Sex positivity is catching on as a trend amongst college-aged youth, especially in new and social media. Sexual health promotion can build on the popularity of sex positivity to emphasize the centrality of consent.

Social norms change
Definition
According to the formal behavioral theory, social norms change aims to correct harmful misperceptions of group norms, resulting in decreased problem behavior or increased prevalence of healthy behaviors. In addition to this technical definition, a broader definition that is commonly used is that social norms change aims to identify and modify commonly accepted attitudes and beliefs that support sexual violence.
Theory and Assumptions
The formal theory assumes that peer pressure is the primary influence on shaping people’s behavior and that many behaviors are influenced by incorrect perceptions of how peers think and act. The broader definition also assumes that peer norms and other social norms have a strong influence on individuals’ behaviors. However, the broader definition focuses on identifying and changing harmful norms, rather than correcting misperceptions of norms.
Notable Examples and Resources
Many campus-based awareness campaigns related to bystander intervention, consent education and alcohol-related risk reduction intend to change social norms. For example, Red Flag, White Ribbon and Green Dot spread messages throughout a community to challenge problematic norms and promote positive ones.
The “Social Norms Approach” is the formal theory as described in Berkowitz, A.D. (2010) “Fostering Healthy Norms to Prevent Violence and Abuse: The Social Norms Approach.”
Annotated bibliography and other resources:

Earlier, problematic work (see challenges and gaps): Fabiano, P., Perkins, H.W., Berkowitz, A., Linkenbach, J., & Stark, C. (2003). Engaging men as social justice allies in ending violence against women: Evidence for a social norms approach. Journal of American College Health, 52(3), 105-112. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07448480309595732#.VBsfoS5dUwI

Research connecting social norms to rape proclivity: Bohner, G., Siebler, F., & Schmelcher, J. (2006). Social norms and the likelihood of raping: Perceived rape myth acceptance of others affects men’s rape proclivity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 286-297. Retrieved from http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/jhamlin/3925/4925HomeComputer/Rape%20myths/Social%20Norms.pdf

Effects of perceived norms on bystander intervention: Brown, A. & Messma-Moore, T. (2009). Personal and perceived peer attitudes supporting sexual aggression as predictors of male college students’ willingness to intervene against sexual aggression. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 25(3), 503-517. Retrieved from http://jiv.sagepub.com/content/25/3/503.abstract
Challenges and Gaps
While the Social Norms Approach is based on strong evidence for other health areas, the problem of sexual violence may not necessarily result from misperceptions of actual beliefs as defined in the theory. There may be overly broad applications of the approach.
Many social norms that are risk factors for sexual violence perpetration, such as male sexual entitlement and the inferiority of women, are deeply ingrained and difficult to change by the time people get to college.
It is difficult to change broad social norms using prevention programs that are used mainly to effect individual change.
Opportunities
Many campuses are small, tight-knit communities with their own social norms. Because many communications and policies can reach entire campus communities, there is real potential to have enough reach to change social norms that support sexual violence risk factors.

PARTNERSHIPS:

Campus-based groups and constituencies
Definition
Typically focus on outreach, education and mobilization of either “high risk” or potential people of influence, often through the Greek or athletics systems. There is a great amount of leadership in SVP and activism through women’s, health, LGBTQ and multicultural resource centers. In addition, many academic programs (education, women’s studies, etc.) are interested in sexual violence research.
With recent attention on sexual violence, there have been some efforts to organize faculty and alumnigroups.

Theory and Assumptions
By reaching constituencies that have potential influence, SVP programs can help those groups create change within the group, and thus affect the broader campus community. Also, by reaching audiences that are at higher risk, there is an opportunity to reduce violence in those settings.
Notable Examples and Resources
Research has shown that fraternity men are significantly more likely than other college men and the general population to approve of coercing women to engage in sexual behavior (Boeringer, 1999; Foubert et al., 2007; Murnen & Kohlman, 2007), and many SVP efforts’ target audience is fraternity men.

Challenges and Gaps
Many students are not part of the targeted groups or are not influenced by those constituencies. While Greek organizations and/or athletics may have some influence among the broader campus community, many other students who are impacted or potentially impacted by sexual violence may not be reached.
Many of these efforts are focused on students, not faculty and staff, who are also very important audiences with potential power and influence.
Opportunities
Collaborating with campus-based groups is an opportunity to leverage the commitment, support and influence that each group has on its own members and on the campus as a whole. By targeting messages to specific audiences, prevention efforts can potentially be more effective. By including a diverse set of campus groups (athletics and Greek communities, women’s centers, LGBTQ, disabled student centers, cultural resource centers, etc.), much of the campus community can be accessed.
Rape crisis centers (RCCs) and other community-based groups/businesses
Definition
Collaborate with community-based entities to ensure prevention messages and activities extend to the entire environment where rape happens and where students live and work.
Theory and Assumptions
Using different skills sets and backgrounds in a multi-disciplinary approach helps to maximize resources and reach students effectively in the overall community context in which they are living. Moreover, a wide variety of sectors should have an interest in SVP and should participate in SVP efforts, because the risk and protective factors for sexual violence perpetration are also risk and protective factors for other negative behaviors and outcomes that impact other sectors.
Notable Examples and Resources

  • Collaboration with local RCCs
  • County-level task forces
  • Community and campus shared awareness events
  • Bar bystander projects (e.g. Raise the Bar Chapel Hill, Arizona Bar Bystander Project)
  • Collaboration with local businesses, law enforcement, LGBT centers, cultural centers, veterans’ programs, faith-based organizations, independent living centers, farmworkers’ associations, city councils, hospitals, high schools and other colleges.

Collaboration with agencies that respond to sexual violence is not primary prevention, but is an important component of comprehensive prevention, as it affirms that addressing sexual violence is a community priority. Some examples of response collaborations:

  • Coordinated community response (CCR)
  • Sexual assault response teams (SART)
  • Domestic abuse response team (DART)

Challenges and Gaps
Working within different systems can cause delays. Having a multitude of opinions can sometimes stall the process during collaboration and necessitate compromises that may serve goals other than or in addition to SVP. Different entities have unique functions, values, focus and level of resources, making collaboration challenging at times.
Opportunities
This approach allows and supports community-driven and community-informed programming through a participatory process of collaboration with multiple stakeholders. Ultimately, it can lead to long-term systemic changes in how sexual violence is addressed and prevented throughout the community.
The experiences of marginalized communities can be brought to the forefront, allowing for more diverse representation.
Collaborating with RCCs and other community-based groups can increase the effectiveness and impact of SVP programs across the social-ecology model.
Student participation
Definition
Includes campaigns, events and movements that are led by students and may or may not include partnerships with campus administrators.
Theory and Assumptions
When students come together based on a perception of inequalities or injustices in society, there is the potential for student leadership to change power relations and create positive changes (Social Movement Theory).
Notable Examples and Resources
SAFER, Know Your IX, student organizations on campus, like PAVE (Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment) on the University of Wisconsin-Madison Campus.
Challenges and Gaps
Some students are unable to see beyond their own experiences, making it difficult to develop systems, practices and programs that can be applied to diverse communities and experiences. Students often do not have the skills or support needed to navigate complicated campus systems and power dynamics. High student turnover means administrations may choose to wait for student activists to graduate rather than engage to create long-term changes.
Opportunities
Student activism is an important aspect of involving students in policy and actions that affect their lives. Student-led efforts are more likely to be timely and relevant to the student body, as well as attentive to the risk and protective factors that are most salient to their community. Students are more likely to listen to their peers and want to be engaged in peer-led efforts. When appropriate, long-term support is available from faculty, staff or community-based mentors, students can both gain leadership skills and make tangible contributions to SVP in their college community.
DISSEMINATION MODALITIES:

Awareness events
Definition
Educational or awareness campaigns that are sustained over a period of time focus on increasing understanding of SVP-related topics, such as what constitutes sexual violence, changing social norms, promoting recognition of perpetrator tactics, enhancing understanding of consent and advancing pro-social behaviors of individuals and communities.
Theory and Assumptions
Awareness building activities contribute to a campus climate where students know that the community talks about sexual violence, supports survivors, encourages students to be activist-leaders and creates an environment on campus in which people do not feel ashamed.
Notable examples and resources

Challenges and Gaps
Awareness building activities as isolated events likely do not prevent individual perpetration and need to be combined with other prevention approaches in a comprehensive prevention strategy.
Some awareness campaigns may have unintended consequences, such as campaigns that discuss and attempt to discredit rape myths actually reinforcing rape myths.
Opportunities
Awareness activities can contribute to a climate that is intolerant of sexual violence as demonstrated through events and campaigns that support prevention messages, help to increase visibility of sexual violence, frame the issue as important to the community, create a climate that honors survivor voices and experiences and help students to feel part of a social movement.

Educational workshops
Definition
In-person workshops that can consist of one or multiple sessions. They can include lectures, facilitated dialogue, interactive activities and other didactic methods.
Theory and Assumptions
If workshop participants can increase their knowledge, improve their attitudes and build their skills related to SVP, there will be less sexual violence perpetration and improved community norms.
Notable examples and resources
Peer Educational Workshops:

Challenges and Gaps
Educational workshops are resource intensive and tend to create change only for participants. Thus, workshops would have to be repeated many times to reach entire campus communities.
Many educational workshops are delivered in one session, but one-session workshops have been shown to be ineffective. The effective prevention requires at least 7-9 sessions for any educational workshop.
In isolation, educational workshops create only individual- and sometimes relationship-level change, but not community, institutional, or societal change.
Opportunities
Educational workshops give program implementers an opportunity to tailor each workshop by responding to the specific needs, abilities and questions of the participants. Working directly with participants may also give program implementers an opportunity to monitor community norms through observing participants. Workshops also allow participants to practice the skills they are building, shape the conversation and receive feedback on their participation.
Online orientations
Definition
Provide a computer-based, introductory session for incoming students that addresses sexual violence, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.
Theory and Assumptions
Online modules offer a way to provide information on required topics to all incoming students without being in the same room. Providing students with information will prevent sexual and other kinds of violence.
Notable examples and resources
Many universities build their own online orientation programs that include reporting requirements, how to support to a survivor, bystander intervention and services available on and off campus.

There are also many online orientation programs that can be purchased, such as:

See also, Online Orientation Programs.

Challenges and Gaps
Online modules are typically a “program in a box” and are not tailored or relevant to the student body or particular campus culture. Students report that they often perceive online modules to be elementary and inauthentic; many students click through modules without taking them seriously. Some online modules have problematic content (e.g. placing responsibility on women not to drink to prevent rape).
Orientation program packages are expensive and inaccessible to many campuses.
Online modules do not offer the opportunity to have facilitated, in-depth discussions on the topics, a requirement for changing behaviors and beliefs.
Opportunities
Online modules are a way to reach all students with the same information and at a lower cost than having all students participate in in-person educational workshops. Some online modules use interactive formats that are more engaging than others.
A 2014 evaluation of an online orientation program, RealConsent, showed desirable outcomes among male college student participants. The study showed improvements in risk and protective factors for sexual violence perpetration, increased self-reported intervening behaviors, and decreased self-reported perpetrating behaviors. (Salazar, L.F., Vivolo-Kantor, A., Hardin, J., & Berkowitz, A. (2014). A web-based sexual violence bystander intervention for male college students: Randomized controlled trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 16(9). Advance online publication. Retrieved from https://www.jmir.org/2014/9/e203/)

Policies as part of a prevention strategy
Definition
Institutional policies can address sexual violence prevention and response on campus, as well as related issues, like regulating response to underage drinking. These policies articulate the campus community’s commitment to address and prevent sexual violence.
Theory and Assumptions
Having written, accessible, transparent, campus-wide policies helps students understand their rights, offers clear guidelines about how victim safety and perpetrator accountability will be ensured and sends a powerful prevention message about what will or will not be tolerated on campus.
Policies affect the entire school environment, and can create community and institutional change.
Notable examples and resources
What Makes A Better Sexual Assault Policy?

Guide and checklist on developing sexual violence policies and procedures for schools.

Students advocating around policy: Know your IX

Connection between policy and education: Borges, A., Banyard, V., & Moynihan, M. (2008). Clarifying consent: Primary prevention of sexual assault on a college campus. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 36(1-2), 75-88. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19042464

Challenges and Gaps

  • Students and staff are often unaware of policies, and administrations are often not held accountable to their sexual violence policies, limiting the policies’ effectiveness.
  • There is a great need to contextualize reporting numbers, as they influence policymakers’ decisions, and reporting trends can be counter-intuitive. For instance, an increase in reports of sexual violence often indicate survivors’ increased trust in campus services, rather than an increase in incidence of sexual violence.
  • Schools often address sexual violence only in their sexual misconduct policies, overlooking opportunities for prevention.
  • Schools may conflate alcohol and sexual violence policies, assuming that sexual violence results from alcohol misuse and can be prevented by addressing alcohol misuse alone.
  • There are no consistently applied standards for sexual violence policies within and across institutions of higher learning, leading to discrepancies in how sexual violence is addressed.
  • Schools with fewer resources are often unable to dedicate adequate time and resources to developing student-informed and survivor-centered prevention policy.

Opportunities
Policies help institutions to be compliant with federal regulations and institutionalize the campus’ commitment to addressing sexual violence.
Addressing the need for policies is a way to engage and build buy-in with community colleges, trade schools, religious schools, tribal schools and other schools that may have limited financial resources.
There are many opportunities to engage students in creating, modifying and updating policies.
Campus-wide policies can impact an entire school environment, which can reduce community-level risk factors for sexual violence perpetration.

Professional and volunteer training
Definition
Can include capacity-building training for faculty, administration, staff and community partners or SVP program delivery training for faculty, peer educators and other volunteers.
Theory and Assumptions
School faculty, administration and staff are influential on campus and tend to have an incomplete understanding of the issues of sexual violence and SVP. Educating them will inform their practices related to SVP. Volunteers and other program implementers need training in order to successfully implement SVP programs and influence campus norms.
Notable examples and resources
“I’m Here For You” program at Loyola University in Chicago

Challenges and Gaps
This is a top-down approach that may not be effective in the absence of bottom-up demand for SVP. Training does not guarantee that influential people will align their actions with SVP principles, as their actions may not be guided by a lack of understanding of SVP, but by other pressures that training does not address, such as PR concerns.
Volunteer training necessitates volunteer management and oversight, and the quality of training will affect the quality of program delivery.
Opportunities
Increased understanding of sexual violence and SVP among influential members of a campus community can help inform campus policies, procedures and norms to be less tolerant of sexual violence and more supportive of prevention and survivors. Providing training to high-level campus administration and faculty can increase institutional buy-in to SVP and inform institutional policy. Training program implementers can increase SVP programs’ capacity to have a broader reach in the campus community.

Social marketing
Definition
Draws upon marketing research and behavior change theory to develop strategies to shift behaviors. Key components include directing the campaign toward a target audience, conducting formative research and pre-testing of messages, developing strategies to address barriers and competition to adapting new behaviors and using a standard marketing mix (product, price, place and promotion) (Lefebre & Flora, 1988). Social marketing is not merely the use of social media to promote a concept, but a strategy to change specific behaviors.
Theory and Assumptions
Social marketing is based on marketing principles where the campaign promotes a behavior for the audience to adopt. For SVP, it is important to tailor the desired behaviors to be appropriate for the intended audience.
Notable examples and resources
Social marketing campaigns are often developed for a specific school. Examples and articles include:

Challenges and Gaps
Linkages to actual reductions in sexual violence are not demonstrated. Many campaigns are called “social marketing” but do not use the research and tools to create behavior change.
Campaigns must go beyond increasing awareness and articulate clear desired behaviors, be adapted for each audience (which is time consuming) and be tested to ensure messages are appropriate and effective for the audience.
Opportunities
Some social marketing research indicates an increase in bystander behaviors that are supportive of SVP. In combination with other strategies, social marketing can reinforce messages to support the adoption of positive behaviors on campuses. Social marketing can reach a broad audience on campus and beyond with relatively few resources.

Theater-based programs
Definition
Part of a larger trend of using the arts to promote SVP, a theater-based approach uses performance to promote positive and challenge negative norms that contribute to SVP.
Theory and Assumptions
Performances allow audience members a safe space to rehearse assertive communication strategies and inspire social and political change. Viewing and participating in performances can change participants’ beliefs about bystander interventions.
Notable examples and resources
InterACT Performance Troupe and research article: Ahrens, C., Rich, M., & Ullman, B. (2011). Rehearsing for real life: The impact of the InterACT sexual assault prevention program on self-reported likelihood of engaging in bystander interventions. Violence Against Women, 17(6), 760-776. http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/17/6/760

McMahon, S., Postmus J.L., Warrener, C., & Koenick, R.A. (2014). SCREAM (Students Challenging Realities and Educating Against Myths) theater utilizing peer education theater for the primary prevention of sexual violence on college campuses.Journal of College Student Development, 55(1), 78-85. Retrieved from http://vpva.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/49/2015/01/McMahon-Postmus-Warrener-Koenick-2014.pdf

Sex Signals scripted and improvisational show

Christensen, M.C. (2011). Using feminist leadership to build a performance-based, peer education program. Qualitative Social Work, 12(3), 254-269. http://qsw.sagepub.com/content/12/3/254
Challenges and Gaps
Theater programs must ensure that material being presented to students is relevant and accounts for cultural differences (including but not limited to race/ethnicity, membership in student groups or “cliques,” age and other identities). Challenges arise in particular when students are not involved in developing the performance material.
Re-traumatization may occur for audience members who are survivors.
Sometimes theater programs unintentionally reinforce rape myths.
Opportunities
Theater programs provide an opportunity to have student buy-in from early planning stages if students are fully integrated in the creation of the theater piece. They can also allow marginalized voices and experiences to be highlighted in a safe space.