Campus Life

Stand for State workshops offer tools to fight sexual, relationship violence

Sophomores Erica Cruz, left, and Bailey Klocko posed for a photograph and shared their thoughts on bystander intervention at the launch of Stand for State on Jan. 27 in the HUB-Robeson Center, University Park. Credit: Bill Zimmerman / Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Stand for State kicked off with a grand launch last month; now it’s time to give students the tools to stand up against sexual violence.

Penn State’s bystander intervention initiative, which kicked off with events at more than 20 campuses in January, is holding its inaugural workshops for students during the first week of March.

Stand for State is providing three-hour workshops for students — 60- to 90-minute programs are available at the request of student organizations. The workshops will be led by faculty and staff who completed four-day training institutes in 2015.

Students will learn how to recognize sexual and relationship violence, how to safely and effectively defuse potentially dangerous situations, and how everyday choices can contribute to creating a campus where we recognize that everyone deserves to be safe and everyone plays a role is looking out for each other. Students will participate in interactive learning activities and consider their own personal values in regard to stepping in to help others.

Students who complete the longer workshop will be certified as Stand for State Student Ambassadors who will be prepared to practice the credo “learn it, live it and talk about it.” 

To register for a workshop or request a program, go to http://standforstate.psu.edu/page-two/workshops/.

Stand for State uses a curriculum created by Green Dot, a national leader in violence prevention education. Green Dot is built on the premise that in order to measurably reduce harm in a community, a cultural shift is necessary. As people engage in new behaviors to reduce violence and harm (which are labeled as red dots), the new prevention behaviors are called green dots. People can create green dots by stepping in safely if they ever see a potential red dot, as well as by showing the people around them that they oppose violence through conversations, by attending/supporting violence prevention events, posting to social media, etc. 

"We’ve been piloting the programs since last semester to make sure that they’re engaging and relevant to students," said Katie Tenny, Stand for State coordinator. "The student leaders who have attended the workshops have consistently said that even though it was a time commitment to set aside three hours, that the time went by quickly because they actually enjoyed it and felt is was definitely worth the commitment.

"More importantly, when we followed-up a few weeks later, some of them had encountered a concerning situation and actually stepped in. Many of them hadn’t seen a potential 'red dot,' but were still making small choices to create a safer campus around them. Students are leaving the program with the skills to help and feel empowered to do so.”

Stand for State’s next major event is "Connecting the Dots: Harnessing Hope Into Action." It is a national day of action uniting the universities nationwide that are implementing Green Dot on Sept. 18. Penn State is coordinating the event along with Green Dot, the University of Missouri and Florida State University.

 

Last Updated April 19, 2017

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