High school officials and parents don’t bare sole responsibility for changing the campus climate, although in a previous post I provided a list of 10 proactive steps they could take to reduce the risk of sexual assault in college. Parents and college students can also become powerful, constructive, and effective advocates for change and accountability. I discuss this in the last chapters of my forthcoming book, Unsafe On Any Campus? College Sexual Assault, and What We Can Do About It.
Among the questions I discuss in the final chapter that parents and student should ask college and university administrators are:
- What programs are in place to assist victims, reduce the
risks of sexual assault, prevent sexual assault, and hold offenders accountability? What performance measures do you use to evaluate their effectiveness? - How much education programming do you provide to freshman on sexual assault and bystander intervention? What is the participation rate?
- Is dorm staff trained in sexual assault awareness, bystander intervention and victim support?
- What fraternities, sororities or students groups are active in providing sexual assault prevention, risk reduction, and other training to students on campus?
- How does your college or university benchmark its performance among its peers?
- How often does your college or university review its sexual assault, victim advocate, and adjudication policies?
Check out more details from the book at my website, campusninjaselfdefense.com.
