Student wellbeing and safety are high priorities for UND and the various services that exist within the university. To address and proactively promote these concepts a new campaign is being launched through the collaboration between Wellness and Health Promotion, CVIC at UND, Student Health Services, University Counseling Center, Housing and Residence Life, Equal Opportunity and Title IX, as well as Student Government.
This campaign is titled ASAP, or Awareness, Safety, Action, and Prevention, and it is a social norming campaign that seeks to focus on the specific ways substance use, such as alcohol consumption, has an impact and can be linked to sexual violence on campus. The campaign is designed around the training of skills and increase in understanding on certain topics to help students feel better equipped to notice, acknowledge, prevent, and respond to potential harmful actions that may occur around them. The hope is that with these tools a safer and more understanding community can be built on and around campus.
There are three main focuses ASAP plans to address and that is campus safety, substance use, and sexual violence. It emphasizes the importance of recognizing how substance use connects to sexual violence and how often it is a major contributing component to increased harmful acts. The Association of American Universities did a survey in 2019 that showed around 65-67% of varying kinds of sexual assault tended to happen when offenders were under the influence of some kind of substance and those who were victimized also tended to be under the influence, somewhere between 67% and 90%.
These statistics show a concerning pattern which is why ASAP’s educational focus will center around things like responsible drinking and consent to help bring more awareness to the ways in which students can avoid falling into potential harmful behaviors. There is also attention brought to how students can be better bystanders in these situations to help notice, prevent, and process potential harmful acts occurring around them.
The campaign also hopes to normalize conversations surrounding things like sexual assault on campus in a way that helps people feel better prepared and less hesitant to say or do something if they notice harmful behaviors. This also serves as a way to help those that have been victimized feel safer on campus as well as validated in the painful experience they went through.
This kind of subject can be difficult to face and acknowledge, which ASAP recognizes and intends to consider when approaching skill building and educational events. One event they hosted was called the “Welly Mobile” which offered students a free ride across campus while also hosting a Cash Cab style educational discussion focused on healthy relationships and consent.
While that event has passed there is an upcoming tabling event on Oct. 23 in the Union from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. that will focus primarily on safety on campus and bystander intervention, giving tools to students to feel better prepared. Campus safety is a concern involving everyone and the best way to ensure it is maintained is if we all do our part, so do stop by if you can in order to learn more and help prevent potential violence for yourself, your friends, and everyone on campus.
ASAP plans to have various other events in the future as well so if neither of these were able to work there will be plenty more to attend to help do your part in keeping UND safe.
Ed Tortorelli is a Dakota Student General Reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].
