Ways to continue making campus a safer place
This is the opinion of Tamara Hennes-Vix, CSB Title IX Coordinator, and Patty Weishaar, SJU Interim Title IX Coordinator
As we enter a new school year full of opportunities for students to flourish, we want to share information from the 2023 Sexual Misconduct Campus Climate survey. Continuing to make needed changes belongs to all of us. Students at CSB and SJU should feel safe and supported in all aspects of their campus experience.
The CSB and SJU Campus Well-Being Committee, in partnership with the Title IX office and the CSB and SJU Coordinated Community Response Team, strive to create and maintain an environment for students that promotes healthy and balanced living. We encourage behavior that supports personal well-being and academic success. Assessment and evaluation, health promotion, policies and procedures and programmatic initiatives all help accomplish this healthy and balanced living.
In the spring semester of the 2022-2023 academic year, the “Sexual Misconduct Campus Climate Survey,” which is conducted every three years, was sent to all CSB and SJU students. The results of the survey showed the many strengths of the CSB and SJU community and identified some areas needing improvement.
**Strengths**
– Among CSB and SJU students engaging in sexual activity, the majority are asked for or ask for consent prior to such activity. CSB and SJU students understand the importance of getting verbal consent.
– CSB and SJU students are engaging in bystander intervention training and increasing their confidence in preventing harm before it happens.
– Strong student groups at CSB and SJU with interest in sexual misconduct prevention have incorporated prevention messages that go out to both campuses through Instagram, poster campaigns and events.
– Staff and faculty take an active role to educate students on issues of safety and connect students with resources in a trauma-informed manner.
**Recommendations for CSB and SJU**
The survey also indicated that some CSB and SJU students have experienced sexual assault, dating/domestic violence, stalking and sexual harassment.
The Campus Well-Being Committee, the Title IX Office and the Coordinated Community Response Team, in collaboration with student groups and other departments across CSB and SJU, pledge:
– To increase prevention messaging around consent and incapacitation
– To conduct bystander intervention trainings to prevent harm before it happens
– To educate on the intersections of sexual harassment, stalking, sexual assault and dating/domestic violence
– To increase awareness of the resources for support on and off campus.
Together, students, staff and faculty can take action to prevent sexual misconduct at CSB and SJU. Every action we take has a ripple effect in changing the campus climate. The CSB and SJU Student Health Promotion Team, CERTS, focuses on the message of Consent, Equality, Respect, Talking and Safety as a foundation of the campuses that CSB and SJU are building together. Let’s work together to make change happen.