Jenni Whalen
Staff Writer
The group presented a brief synopsis of the current research and definitions of sexual assault. It discussed bystander behaviors at length and explained that the purpose of their program is to capture bystanders, the people who don’t commit assaults but also don’t do anything to stop them. These bystanders can then create bubbles of cognitive dissonance in the University’s social culture. The presentation also incorporated group participation and a question and answer period.
“The Speak UP Bucknell organization has the ability to create a safer environment on Bucknell’s campus,” Samantha Schindelheim ’12 said. “As we know from the Campus Climate Report and from further research being conducted, sexual assault is very prevalent on Bucknell’s campus. Students need to feel empowered to be positive bystanders and to help prevent sexual assault. Learning how to act as positive bystanders through programs like Speak UP Bucknell could change the statistics and decrease the occurrences of assault on our campus.”
Alyssa Gockley • Mar 9, 2012 at 1:12 pm
Thanks Jenni! This is a great article.