One in four college women report surviving rape or attempted rape at some point in their lifetime. This rate has not changed since 1980s studies, indicating sexual violence education is a necessity for both students and faculty.
Rape is the least reported of all crimes; in fact, approximately 11% of college women victims report rape to police. Studies have shown that the more a woman can recognize threatening cues, the more likely she can resist or escape the situation. These findings indicate that the best defense against sexual violence is informing students on statistics, aspects of a dangerous situation, and post-crime resources that are available.
Throughout 2014, significant changes have been made that effect sexual violence education through U.S. colleges and universities. The three guiding mandates include:
- Clery Act: a federal statute effecting all institutions that are recipients of federal financial aid, update its campus safety and security requirements by requiring colleges to compile statistics for incidents of dating violence, domestic violence and stalking, in addition to existing campus crime statistics.
- Campus SaVE Act: states that schools must provide “primary prevention and awareness programs” for all new students and employees. Compliance is MANDATORY, making sexual violence training a large priority.
- Title IX: schools must have an established procedure for handling complaints of sex discrimination, sexual harassment, or sexual violence; schools must take immediate action to ensure victims can continue his or her education free of ongoing sex discrimination, sexual harassment, or sexual violence.
The Clery Act, the Campus SaVE Act, and Title IX ALL effect institutions that receive federal aid funding, which is essentially all colleges and universities.
Creating a Prevention and Awareness Campaign
To comply with the most recent mandates, institutions need to create a comprehensive Sexual Violence Prevention and Awareness Campaign to inform supervisors, faculty, staff, and students. Ideally, the campaign should reach as many audience members as possible, making an online training program the ideal solution. With online training, institutions can utilize videos, images, and reference additional resources in order to effectively communicate a strong message. Most importantly, an online program is easily accessible to audience members and can be accessed 24/7, without judgment.
An effective program should inform students and staff about:
- Current Statistics, both campus and country wide
- What defines sexual violence
- The university’s strong stance against sexual violence
- Dangerous Environments
- Bystander Intervention
- School’s reporting system
- Victim Resources
We can assist you in creating a powerful, informative campaign that will reach all of your audience members. With our online training software, you can easily customize a program that resides with your campaign goals. To learn more about creating an online sexual violence training program for your institution, contact us at sales@comevo.com or 800-748-0945.
