A short guide for universities beginning to build their sexual violence prevention and response approach.Starting to address sexual violence in a university setting would be daunting at the best of times, let alone in the current climate where, rightly so, it is no longer the decision of a university whether they want to be addressing it or not. Professor Graham Towl from Durham University once said at a conference that the matrix of risk is shifting in Universities. That is, it is riskier to not talk about sexual violence, than it is to admit your University has a problem*, and you’re doing ‘X/Y/Z’ about it. [*This is actually not new information – sexual violence is happening in all Universities.] And, of course, noted by Humphreys and Towl, and many others, there is no neutral position on sexual violence at universities – you are either actively protecting the victim/ survivors, or passively (or sometimes actively) protecting perpetrators.
With this is mind, what do we need to do? There’s no pretending that it’s an easy task but there are some general principles to start off with.
Commitment: not just when things are particularly topical on Twitter. Commitment in terms of resources, commitment in terms of learning and development, and commitment in terms of willingness to be challenged.
Flexibility: you might not know what your University response to this work might look like in practice when you start launching policies and doing campaigns. Flexibility in terms of job roles, to shift focus depending on need (prioritising student contact), is one way to ensure the work’s longevity. Adding this as a ‘bolt-on’ to someone’s full-time job is not building in flexibility – it’s building in weakness and a single-point-of-failure (regardless of how brilliant that individual may be).
Clear expectations and scope: expectations are everything. There are some basics all Universities need to do, so with this, and everything else you want to be providing, you need to be transparent and make this clear to students. Students may come in with expectations, and these may also be informed by friends, other staff and wider society, and these can lead to students struggling through processes more than is necessary. This is another argument for Universities leading the discussion on their own commitment – don’t let those who are unaware set the expectations for your students.
Levity: talking about sexual violence all day, learning more, and challenging yourself everyday will be difficult and exhausting. Having a sense of humour is so very important and, trust me, if you can ‘read the room’ effectively with your students – they will most certainly appreciate it too.
Those are some general points to note, but what are some of the tangible commitments you will need to make to this work?
Policies and, most importantly, underlying procedures
Staff (and frameworks) to support disclosures, options conversations, decision-making, signposting and referrals, and associated processes
Training/ awareness sessions for staff and students
Events and campaigns to support the above
I would be doing this work a disservice if I said I would be able to provide something that was exhaustive and fully applicable to every institution, so I will just highlight some common downfalls and just a few personal suggestions.
Section One: There’s a lot of focus directed towards implementing policies and of course, it’s important to set out the University’s stance and commitments in the form of a policy. It’s far more important, however, to set out these commitments through actions. This is why, my suggestion would be that you essentially copy and paste (with necessary tweaks) whatever policy you like the look of, and then really focus your energy on a related procedures document that is trauma-focused and well-resourced. As you will know from my other opinion post ‘Why Might Misconduct Processes Not Work’, you can’t tweak a plagiarism policy until you get a sexual violence one, but you should be able to find another University’s sexual violence (or unacceptable behaviour, or interpersonal non-academic misconduct) policy, and adjust to your needs. The procedures document will then expand on every aspect of this, and explain how the people in that process will be treated throughout. The people need to be the focus of this – including those staff responsible for ensuring the process is conducted properly and effectively.
Section Two: I talk a bit about appropriate staffing in my aforementioned opinion post and, not to be reductive but, there are two key facets – quality and quantity. I know that’s not particularly novel but I have seen Universities try to do one without the other. Quantity is fairly self-explanatory, but having people in roles is pointless if their focus is split. Flexibility is, of course, important, but only works when focus can be returned to supporting and processing the fight against sexual violence at Universities. By quality, I mean caring, understanding, and appropriately trained*/ experienced. [*Depending on the role “training” may not be required, but for some roles such as investigators and specific support workers, it is a non-negotiable].
Section Three: As well as specific training for specific roles, all staff need a level of awareness. Even if your University work around sexual violence is just focused on students, any member of staff may interact with a student (you’d be surprised), and you know what, it’s just generally a really good thing for everyone to be aware of – just as human beings. More specifically, that ‘really good thing for everything to be aware of’ should probably include an overview of disclosure training (that is, how to effectively manage a personal or sensitive disclosure) – and a disclosure of sexual violence is a good example to use. In providing this awareness, you will naturally also be educating around the myths and misconceptions, and key points to remember for sexual violence in particular. As well as improving responses to these disclosures across your institution, this will educate and equip staff for their personal lives as well. I would argue that disclosure training is never not valuable.
I would also argue, that anything you’re offering to and for staff, should be available for students (and vice versa). However, if we’re pigeon-holing, for students in particular, clear, consistent ‘dosed’ messages are vital. Do not expect one online module you make mandatory before arrival in September to cover all bases. Essentially, don’t put all your eggs on one basket. Identify your key touch points (e.g. pre-arrival, welcome, mid-term, end of term, refreshers (feel free to create your own touch points)), identify your key messages (consent (what it is, how to respond to types of cues etc.), bystander, what support is available, statistics around sexual violence, external specialist support etc.), and then join them up, create or source the training/ awareness you need – and repeat across the year.
Section Four:
Of course, the paragraph above for training/ awareness messages goes hand-in-hand with awareness-raising events and campaigns. Use University touch points, and create your own, and tap into local, national and international campaigns. Events can be more than leaflets on a stall in the Students’ Union building, but they don’t have to cost much either. Create videos/ vox pops with staff and students – ask each other questions about your campaigns, and their views; create little challenges that may be relevant or irrelevant to ease into other conversations (either in person or virtually); allow social media takeovers from the SU/ students; arrange lecture flash-mobs (without any triggering content that attendees need to be aware of beforehand); piggy-back on University/ SU-wide campaigns and events.
Vitally, where possible, the 4 sections above should not sit in isolation. Your 1:1 work with students must inform policy, and what trainings and awareness events are required. Of course, your interaction with staff and students through trainings and events can and should also inform your 1:1 work with students.
It is possible none of the above is brand new information, but hopefully it might at least provide some food-for-thought for whether you’re starting out, or just looking for a different perspective.
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