Academic Initiatives Report: Student Life/Violence Prevention, 2013-2014

  1. Give a thorough, yet concise, assessment (1-2 paragraphs) of your program for the ending fiscal year:

Since January 2007, the UW-L has had a Violence Prevention Specialist (VPS). This position was initially funded by a grant from the Office on Violence Against Women, but has since been picked up fully by the University. As part of the Student Life Office Staff, the VPS offers advocacy and support to students, faculty and staff affected by sexual assault, relationship violence, or stalking. The VPS works closely with other campus and community service providers, including Counseling and Testing, campus and community law enforcement agencies, and campus and community health services, to insure that the needs of each victim are met.

Additionally, the VPS provides prevention education to the campus in an effort to change the campus culture regarding interpersonal violence.

The Violence Prevention Specialist coordinates the Violence Prevention Advisory Council, which meets monthly to address issues related to interpersonal violence on campus.

The Violence Prevention Specialist also shares supervision (with the Student Life WellnessCoordinator)of7undergraduate students who serve as Peer Health Educators on campus. In the past year the Peer Health Educators presented or assisted with more than 20 programs on campus, largely in the residence halls, that addressed sexual assault, relationship violence, healthy sexuality, and/or awareness of these issues.

A 20-hour per week Graduate Assistant, paid by Academic Initiative funds, assists with all of these activities and helps to oversee the work of the Peer Health Educators.

  1. Explain your program’s goals and outcomes. Were these goals and outcomes met? (Please include quantitative data).
  1. The first goal of the Student Life/Violence Prevention program is to provide advocacy and support to members of the UW-L community affected by sexual assault, relationship violence, or stalking.

81 victims were served this year.

  1. The second goal of Student Life/Violence Prevention is to change the campus culture around the issue of violence against women, specifically sexual assault, relationship violence, and stalking. A major component of this is prevention education. Violence Prevention sponsored or co-sponsored a number of prevention education programs this past year.

Prevention Education programs held in 2013-14:

  1. Classroom Presentations: 32

Peer Health Educator Programs: 20

Additional Presentations*: 16

(*Hall Director and R.A. Trainings; Freshman Registration and International Student Orientations; Campus Climate Brown Bag Lunch Presentation; Residence Hall Programs)

  1. Programming:

Our signature event this year was “The Ultimate UW-L Race” for Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April. 9 teams (over 50 UW-L students) competed by finding clues about sexual assault facts and services that were hidden around campus. The winning team received a plaque, and additional prizes included several Fitbits and I-Pad Minis as incentives to participate.

The event concluded with a presentation about sexual assault prevention given by two UW-L students and Ice Cream Sundae Bar. This event was co-sponsored by Rec Sports.

  1. Additional Programming Included:

October (Domestic Violence Awareness Month): Candlelight Vigil and Speak-Out on Domestic Violence at the HoeschlerClocktower; Clothesline Project Display; Dramatic Presentation, “Shattered Glass”

(Co-sponsored with Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies)

November: Residence Hall Panel Discussion on Sex(Sponsored by Sanford Hall)

February: One Billion Rising (V-Day) Event(Co-sponsored with numerous campus and community agencies);Film Showing and Discussion of “The Bro Code”(How Contemporary Culture Creates Sexist Men)

(Sponsored by Coate Hall)

March: Film Showing and Discussion of “Tough Guise”(Violence, Media, and the Crisis in Masculinity); Residence Hall Sex Week Event Panel Discussion (Sponsored by Residence Life); Glass Block Painting Workshop for Sexual Assault Survivors(Co-sponsored with Survivors Empowered Through Art)

April (Sexual Assault Awareness Month): “UW-L Ultimate Race”(Co-sponsored with Rec Sports); Photography Exhibit: “Project Retrospect: Flipping the Script on Rape”(Co-sponsored with Survivors Empowered Through Art and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies);Film Showing and Discussion : “Tough Guise 2”(Violence, Manhood and American Culture)

Prevention education is a long-term undertaking that is hard to quantify. One measure of success is program usage, which has increased dramatically since the program began:

  1. What were your usage rates for this year?

Advocacy Statistics:

Sexual Assault: 34

Relationship Violence: 18

Stalking: 15

Sexual Harassment/Other: 14

TOTAL 81

Court/Law Enforcement/Legal Advocacy: 8

Restraining Obtaining a Restraining Order: 3

Assistance Accessing Campus Judicial Process: 2

Assistance Filing Sexual Harassment Complaint: 1

Crime Victim Compensation Applications: 6

(Provides assistance with medical and other related expenses for crime victims)

There has been a steady increase in the number of reported sexual assaults and the number of victims choosing to prosecute, through the campus judicial system, the legal system, or both. Overall referrals are also on the rise again.

  1. What was done to measure user satisfaction or program successes? What are the results?

On the Campus Climate Survey conducted in 2013, 70 students indicated they had been sexually assaulted while students at UW-L, yet only 3% reported it. The work group followingup on this portion of the survey is workingon the development of a more comprehensive program for sexual assault prevention. One of the recommendations to achieve this was that ongoing quantitative and qualitative assessments of these activities be conducted in order to ensure effectiveness.

This past year a $5,000.00 grant was received from the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault. The purpose of the grant was to “Increase individual and organizational capacity related to program evaluation for prevention and intervention services”. The grant allowed the VPS and a volunteer (UW-L Professor Emerita Sandra Krajewski) to participate in a year-long program evaluation training program (ELC). Outcomes included:

  1. We learned a lot about the best ways to gather evaluation information in order to make our presentations most effective. Information and skills gained from participation in the ELC will be used to design an evaluation of our Freshman Registration presentation, as well as to redesign the campus programming and prevention efforts already in place. This will allow us to focus on learning outcomes rather than just program content in a formative way, allowing us to shape presentations to what we expect students to learn.
  1. Development of a new record-keeping database that will allow for easy access to relevant statistics, which again helps us to tailor programming to campus needs.
  1. What new initiatives were created and how did they impact student success?

This year we initiated a new approach to Sexual Assault Awareness Month with “The UW-L Ultimate Race” Challenge. More than 50 UW-L students (9 teams) registered to participate in the challenge. Teams competed against one another, racing to find clues about sexual assault facts and services that were hidden around campus. The winning team received a plaque, and additional prizes included several Fitbits and I-Pad Minis as incentives to participate.

The event concluded with a presentation about sexual assault prevention given by two UW-L students and Ice Cream Sundae Bar. This event was co-sponsored by Rec Sports.

One goal of all violence prevention programming and services is to impact student success. The vast majority of sexual assaults go unreported, and for victims who do not receive needed help and services a common reaction is to withdraw from daily activity, like attending classes. By publicizing the availability of on-campus advocacy and awareness events, we greatly increase the likelihood that a victim will access services and remain in school. Referrals to violence prevention services have increased from 6 the first year to 70-90 per year in the past seven years.

  1. Explain any decreases or increases in allocated funding and outcomes.

Due to a budget shortfall, Violence Prevention accepted a $5,503.00 reduction in Academic Initiatives funding this past year. $3,000.00 of that amount had been budgeted for Fringe Benefits for the Graduate Assistant position, and was not being used. The additional decrease was deal with by substituting our “Ultimate Race” Awareness Month event for the more pricey speakers we have used in the past.

  1. Explain any anticipated funding increases or decreases for the next budget cycle,

excluding inflationary increases as determined by the Budget Office.

No funding increases or decreases are expected, beyond any inflationary increases in Fringe Benefits as determined by the Budget Office.

  1. Please also provide program goals for the upcoming year.

Goals for 2014-15 include:

  • Utilize information and skills gained from participation in the ELC to design an evaluation of our Freshman Registration presentation, as well as to redesign the campus programming and prevention efforts already in place.
  • Expand Peer Health Educator Program with the hiring of additional Peer Health Educators.
  • Continue to work with the Campus Climate Study work group on the development of a more comprehensive, campus-wide program for sexual assault prevention.
  • Continue to increase referrals.
  • Continue to increase referrals from underserved populations through staff training and increased outreach to the office of Multicultural Student Services, the Campus Climate Office, the Pride Center, and Student Support Services.
  • Continue to work on the goal of changing our campus climate by focusing prevention efforts on the issue of bystander intervention.
  • Continue to meet demand for increased programming requests through a successful Peer Education Program (partnership with Wellness Resource Center).