USU Brings Awareness to Sexual Violence as Fall Semester Begins

Utah State University will implement a comprehensive sexual violence prevention effort this fall that will give students the information they need to make well-informed decisions about issues that affect their years in college and beyond. 

“From research at other colleges and universities nationwide, we know there is a higher incidence of sexual assault at the beginning of the school year, so we’re addressing this risk directly and early in the fall semester,” said Noelle Cockett, USU president and head of the university’s task force on sexual violence. “Student safety and well-being are crucial to ensuring their academic success.”

This effort includes:

• Requiring all first-year undergraduate and graduate students to complete a sexual assault awareness training before arriving on campus. This training addresses the critical issues of sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking and sexual harassment. First-year undergraduates are also required to complete another online program that aims to reduce underage drinking and at-risk drinking behavior. Students who do not complete the courses will have a hold placed on their accounts, preventing them from registering for spring semester.

• Offering an introductory discussion on consent and bystander intervention during the first-year class held the week prior to the beginning of fall semester.

• Implementing a bystander intervention training program across campus designed to empower students to step in and help other members of the campus community. This program, “Upstanding: Stepping Up to Prevent Violence in Utah,” will target student leaders, student-athletes, those living in on-campus housing, Residence Life staff, international students, members of Greek life organizations and members of sexual minorities. USU is piloting this training for the Utah Department of Health, which created it through its Violence and Injury Prevention Program.

• Providing a week of educational presentations on healthy relationships, communicating consent and safer sex. This is scheduled for the second week of fall semester, Sep. 5-8, 2017.

These prevention efforts respond to recommendations made by USU’s sexual violence prevention working group to the task force charged with improving how the university prevents and responds to sexual violence in the campus community.

More information about USU’s efforts to prevent and respond to sexual violence is available at usu.edu/sexual-assault.

Contact: Amanda DeRito, sexual misconduct information coordinator, amanda.derito@usu.edu, 435-797-2759