St. Bonaventure University has implemented the Department of Justice program into the 2019-2020 academic school year following the $300,000 grant they received last year.
The grant, which spans over three years, works to empower the St. Bonaventure community in relation to gender-based violence and sexual assault.
Working in conjunction with McAllister & Quinn, a federal grant consulting agency, St. Bonaventure, along with 50 other universities, was able to receive the grant for the nation-wide program that they applied for three times.
The program offers an array of different measures to help quell the rampant sexual misconduct incidents that occur on college campuses. The goal is to educate and prevent.
“We are trying to improve response protocols, increase the amount of prevention and education programs,” said Nichole Gonzalez, Dean of Students. “All of that is to begin to decrease the issue of campus sexual assault, to improve how people respond, like having students be good bystanders and actually intervene in situations and help prevent incidents from happening.”
Since 2017, there have been two more incidences of rape and two more incidences of fondling, both on campus property, according to St. Bonaventure University’s 2018 Annual Campus Security and Fire Safety Report.
The grant led to the implementation of EMPOWER: Peer Prevention Education, a new club on the Bonaventure campus that trains students on prevention and victim-support methods.
“It’s not just ideas, it’s actual theoretical models that have been researched and proven to help people intervene in difficult situations,” said Dr. Jennifer Karash-Eastman, project coordinator for the Department of Justice Campus Program.
Student training provided by Eastman will likely begin in January. From there, students will be able to hold training for other students through EMPOWER.
“We want this to be a student initiative because we know that students look towards other students as leaders and mentors,” said Eastman.
EMPOWER recently participated in the Clothesline Project at the unity rally. The project is a national program that provides t-shirts and allows students to write messages of support or personal testimony about situations in which they have been assaulted. The shirts were hung outside the library on a clothesline. EMPOWER plans on participating in the event next fall as well.
Last week, EMPOWER participated in Café Damietta, which is a weekly series held at the Damietta Center. The students took a 30-minute, safe-colleges online-training program to prepare for the discussion. This is required for the club because although everyone can share their own stories, proper knowledge of how to support others is necessary. In honor of this month being National Domestic Violence Awareness month, the discussion at Café Damietta was titled, “Situationships and Relationships,” and students focused on the issues regarding hook-up culture and relationship violence that is present on campus.
The club is open to new members. Students are encouraged to reach out to Eastman over email or in-person about joining or receiving support from the trainees.
“The group is now in formation, so it is open to new membership. Anyone who wants to join in is welcome,” said Eastman.
The program emphasizes participation of all students regardless of age, gender or sexual orientation. The goal is to unite students and educate them in how to prevent sexual assault on the Bonaventure campus.
By Julia Schneider, Staff Writer
schneije18@bonaventure.edu
