By Cassidey Kavathas, News Editor
During sexual assault aweraness month, the Empower Student Peer Prevention Educator Group will offer a bystander intervention program. This event, “Lunch & Learning: Bringing in the Bystander,” will be held April 10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Registration begins April 6 and is limited to 25 participants. The event is open to all St. Bonaventure University students, faculty and staff.
Empower aims to educate the campus community on sexual assault, dating, domestic violence and stalking. They provide training on bystander intervention, healthy relationships and LGBTQ+ allyship. Empower also hosts comprehensive victim advocacy services for any Bonaventure campus member who are survivors or victims of these crimes which includes a 24/7 hotline linked to Connecting Communities in Action.
“Bystander intervention helps everyone develop an awareness of situations and how to help during or after something has occurred,” said Nicole Honeysett, the assistant for the Campus Program and Empower. “It is sometimes difficult to recognize a situation or decide to intervene, but “Bringing in the Bystander” helps students, faculty and staff reflect and apply knowledge to their own lives.”
The program consists of two different courses regarding bystander intervention. The first course is 90 minutes and focuses on gender-based violence, sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking. The techniques and strategies are applicable to situations such as intervening in racist, sexist and homophobic comments or violence. At the university, all freshman and transfer students are required to complete this program as part of their orientation.
“We use a research and evidence-based training program called ‘Bringing in the Bystander.’ This program focuses on creating communities of respect with bystander intervention techniques that can be used before, during or after an incident,” said Jennifer Eastman, the director of the Campus Program. “We aim to prevent violence on campus with these training strategies.”
After this course, there is a break for lunch which is included in registration. Lunch consists of a catered club sandwich box which includes drinks, chips and cookies. There are vegan and vegetarian options available. The second course offered, “Train the Trainer,” is optional but participation is highly encouraged.
“Continuing bystander intervention is a best practice for all universities in order to cultivate a community of respect for all members of our SBU community,” said Eastman. “We encourage all students, faculty and staff to train on this topic annually.”
Eastman, Honeysett and Olivia Boyd, a senior criminology major, who is an Empower peer prevention educator and is trained as a trainer in “Bringing in the Bystander,” will be teaching these courses.
“We began training with ‘Bringing in the Bystander’ in January of 2020. The training is supported by our DOJ [Department of Justice] Campus Program housed in Student Affairs,” said Eastman. “We are hoping to have many faculty, staff and students interested.”
Bystander intervention training is offered at least once a semester to all students, faculty and staff.
“We also provide training on a needed basis and are willing to facilitate training for any entity on our campus such as clubs, athletic teams, university departments, honor societies, classes, divisions and for any member of the SBU community,” said Eastman.
kavathcj20@bonaventure.edu
