Sexual violence has recently become a topic that is impossible to escape from. You find it in the news, on social media, and, if you are like me and work in a higher ed institution, you cannot escape it at work or as a student either. Sexual violence has become the hot topic of the semester and its recent popularity has certainly impacted prevention and advocacy efforts.

One of the first campaigns that lit up the social media scene was the #metoo campaign. This campaign was started by Tarana Burke ten years ago but regained popularity at high volumes in the Fall of 2017 to raise awareness about sexual misconduct prevalence across the world. Primarily popular in the United States, women, men and other non-binary individuals used social media to raise awareness about how they had experienced what was often times multiple forms of sexual misconduct. From celebrities to neighbors, every community was blown away by these public postings. In fact, this took over social media for weeks. This campaign surprised many across the United States to share high rates of sexual misconduct and left many people angry. For survivors, this campaign was both empowering and triggering.

The #metoo campaign was started in response to allegations against the infamous director, Harvey Wienstein. The cases, such as that written by Lupita Nyong'o in the New York Times, brought against Weinstein have continued to increase in numbers as actresses of all ages open up about their experiences with him. This wave of allegations also started a ripple effect into politics and the music and tv industries. For the first time in decades, the issue of sexual misconduct is being brought to light from coast to coast. But what do we do with all of it?

Moving Forward

As higher education professionals, it is our responsibility to recognize the impact these national responses have on our student bodies. Title IX news has swept the nation and our students are bearing the brunt of it. As they navigate how Betsy DeVos' new guidelines and forthcoming mandates may or may not impact their campus, they are also seeing the significance of this issue in many aspects of their life. For our advocates and peer educators, this can be particularly troubling and for our survivors, potentially re-traumatizing.

It is imperative that we create tools and spaces for our students to be able to process all of this. Here are a few suggestions that you could implement on your campus to foster a community of support for your students:

• Host a panel with campus experts: Find an hour in the evening where campus professionals, ideally from Conduct, Title IX, Dean of Students, Sexual Violence Prevention Specialists, and Survivor Support Professional offices to discuss these issues on campus. They can talk about their roles in the Title IX process. For an event such as this it is important that students also have the opportunity to ask questions. Furthermore, it would be ideal for this event to be recorded and posted for any students who could not attend.

• Host a community forum for students and professionals: A community forum or town hall meeting could be a great way to bring community members together to process everything going on in the community. Set up different discussion tables discussing different topics and allow participants to rotate as they place.

• Create or utilize a social media campaign to raise awareness: Find proper educational and non-triggering ways to talk about the prevalence of sexual violence on college campuses. Use social media campaigns such as The Red Flag Campaign and others to increase knowledge within the campus community. 

• Make sure to provide support resources: In the campus paper or other primary channels of communication, be sure to clearly list campus support resources such as confidential services (i.e. counseling center, health centers, etc.) and other response resources.

• Have campus administrators address these topics at a campus level: Encourage Dean of Students, Vice Presidents/Presidents of the college to issue statements of support and zero-tolerance of sexual misconduct on campus. Tailor these messages to your campus language for increased impact.

For more information on how to organize, host, or facilitate any of these discussions, contact mayanthi@orendaco.org.