How U Kentucky Is Trying to Stop Campus Sexual Assault

T

his past fall, sexual assault and rape on campus have
grown frustrated with the failed strategies for preventing
been forced to the forefront; high-profile stories from
violence against women.
Columbia University NY, the University of Virginia and Vas“Conference after conference,” she writes in her book
sar University NY prove that we have a long way to go in
Green Dot Prevention Strategy, “we sat and listened to each
order to curb sexual assault on campus.
other present one year another clever poster campaign,
In April 2014, the White House released a report
another creative one-time-only-mandatory program, and
based on the findings of its Task Force to Protect Stuanother date-rape skit…all the while letting our hope for
dents from Sexual Assault. With one in five female colreal change slip into tired resignation.”
lege students assaulted and only 12% of those assaulted
Edwards saw the research clearly showed that what
reporting the crime, it is becoming increasingly importhose who worked in prevention had done wasn’t working
tant for colleges to act.
and decided to “upend everything I thought I knew. QuesExcept, the report goes on to say, many assault-prevention
tion Everything.”
programs don’t work. President Obama, however,
That insight led her to research anything she
Dr.
singled out the University of Kentucky as an
could find, regardless of discipline, that
example of what can and should be done
involved successfully preventing someDorothy Edwards
to prevent violence against women on
one from doing something: public
saw the research clearly
college campuses.
health, social psychology, marketing,
showed that what those who
How did the University of Kencommunication and persuasion. This
tucky become a leader in sexual
research informed her new prevenworked in prevention had done
assault prevention?
tion
strategy, Green Dot.
wasn’t working and decided to
Green Dot program
Noticing a problem
“upend everything I thought
According to the University of
In 2002, Dr. Carol Jordan was
I knew.”
Kentucky’s Violence Intervention and
finishing up eight years as executive
Prevention Center website on Green Dot, on
director of the Kentucky Governor’s Office of
a map, “A ‘red’ dot represents every individual act
Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Services. Jordan’s
of power-based personal violence— a rape, a threat, an
experience is in crisis intervention, but, as she puts it, “I
assault, a hit—plus every statement or action that justifies,
spent my career to that point rescuing people from drownaccepts, minimizes, excuses, or ignores that violence.”
ing in the river. We needed to start asking, what is going
The green dots “represent any behavior, choice, word,
on up-river? Who is throwing them in?” She became very
or an attitude” of intolerance for violence. In other words,
interested in prevention and working on researching the
they represent actions that promote safety for everyone.
problem of prevention.
Green Dot seeks to change the culture of violence and
The Center for Research on Violence Against Women
tacit acceptance of violence on college campuses by “capiwas created at the University of Kentucky in 2003, with Jortalizing on the power of peer and cultural influence” and
dan as the director. With the support of then-UK President
is “informed by social theory.”
Lee Todd, the Center released the Women’s Safety Study
It seeks to create “a force of engaged and proactive
in 2004, one of the first prevalence and incidence studies of
bystanders.” By creating a social movement led by what
safety issues unique to its own campus.
are known as Popular Opinion Leaders (or POLs), Green
Most universities still rely on national data and trends
Dot seeks to change the climate on campuses, to make it
and rarely survey their own campuses to understand the
clear that power-based personal violence is not acceptable.
climate at their own institution.
The study was repeated in 2007, and it confirmed that
Two-part intervention
there was a problem at the University of Kentucky: 36.5% of
The approach is grounded in research, particularly in
UK’s female students reported having an experience of vicsocial diffusion theory, bystander literature, perpetrator
timization while enrolled (physical, sexual and/or stalking).
data, and marketing and rebranding research. It consists of
“I will always credit the university administration for
two phases.
being brave enough, on our own initiative, to do this study,
The first phase of the Green Dot approach involves a
and to release the findings publicly,” remarks Jordan. Presi50-minute motivational speech, which tries to:
dent Todd even matched the funding Jordan was able to
•  help students find their connection to dating and
raise from the Federal Department of Justice in order to
sexual violence on college campuses,
complete the survey.
•  build awareness of the problem of dating and sexual
In response to the report, the campus created a “Women’s
violence on college campuses,
Place,” which later became the VIP (Violence Intervention
•  present a bystander intervention as a manageable
and Prevention) Center. “We wanted to make sure the Cenand simple activity,
ter had a broader focus on victimization and prevention
•  persuade and motivate students to get involved in
across the campus communities,” explained Jordan. But they
prevention, and
would need someone to be the director of this new Center.
•  link students to the VIP Center on the UK campus.
VIP Center staff delivers the speech to incoming freshFrustration in failure
men in a one-credit course entitled University 101, which is
They hired Dr. Dorothy Edwards, a respected researcher
designed to help new students transition to university life.
and educator in counseling psychology. Edwards had
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Women in Higher Education (www.wihe.com) / January 2015

 The second phase involves an intervention program
In September, it was announced that this study found
called Students Educating and Empowering to Develop
a greater than 50 percent reduction in the self-reported
Safety (SEEDS). The program focuses on preventing perfrequency of sexual violence perpetration by students
petrator behavior by providing students with skills to be a
that received the Green Dot training, compared to a slight
proactive bystander.
increase in schools that did not. While this study focused
The program is composed of small-group, intensive seson Kentucky high schools, the results are encouraging for
sions. The students who are selected to attend have been
reducing sexual violence on campus.
deemed POLs and have influence within their particular
An issue for retention and completion
communities.
Jordan has moved into a new role at the University of
“Diffusion of new behaviors is more readily accepted
Kentucky as the director of the Office for Policy Studies on
in a community when behaviors are modeled by influenViolence Against Women, an interdisciplinary research group
tial peers,” explains Dr. Ann L. Coker, Verizon Wireless
dedicated to shaping the creation, implementation and evaluEndowed Chair in the Center for Research on Violence
ation of public policy to improve the lives of women harmed
Against Women. Coker is the lead researcher on a number
by violence and abuse through policy research and analysis,
of studies seeking to assess the effectiveness of the Green
and empirically driven advocacy and practice.
Dot strategy.
In her recent article in the journal Trauma, Violence
The approach shifts the focus away from the victim and
and Abuse, Jordan shows how sexual violence negatively
crisis intervention and toward the power of collective preimpacts retention and persistence. Women who have
vention. “By shifting the focus away from solely helping
been victimized have lower GPAs, and Jordan advises
victims and onto identifying high-risk potential
that student affairs, admissions and academic
perpetrator behavior, bystanders may be
advising professionals “need to include
In the
better able to respond to a potentially
the risk of victimization among
Green Dot approach,
violent situation earlier in its develfactors included in retention
students are encouraged
opment,” Coker elaborates.
programming.”
As put by the program literature:
to intervene when faced with a
What can you do?
“The Green Dot strategy is predisituation that may result in an
“Most people agree that viocated on the belief that individual
lence
is wrong and they want to do
assault, particularly when
safety is a community responsibility
the
‘right
thing,’” explains current
and shifts the lens away from victims/
alcohol is involved.
VIP
Director
Rhonda Henry. “Unfortuperpetrators and onto bystanders.”
nately, most people don’t see themselves as
Impact of Green Dot
part of the solution to ending power-based personal
A preliminary study, “Evaluation of Green Dot: An
violence; they aren’t sure what to do or how they can be
Active Bystander Intervention to Reduce Sexual Violence
effective.”
on College Campuses,” co-authored with a number of
The VIP Center website at the University of Kentucky has
colleagues and appearing in the journal Violence Against
some tips and advice for those who want to work toward
Women, found that both Phase One and Phase Two had
becoming a Green Dot campus (you can find the full list at
an impact on students, and “significantly increased both
http://www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs/VIPCenter/learn_
observed and actual active bystander behaviors in the gengreendot.php).
eral population of UK students” (17).
•  Send an email to your contact list with a simple mesThe studies are ongoing, and with continued research,
sage: “This issue is important to me and I believe in the
Coker and her colleagues hope to show that rates of viogoal of reducing violence.”
lence are in fact lower at UK than non-Green Dot schools,
•  Tell a woman in your life that power-based personal
thus proving the effectiveness of the Green Dot approach.
violence matters to you.
A growing movement
•  Have a conversation with a younger man or boy who
The success of the Green Dot approach has not gone
looks up to you about how important it is for men to help
unnoticed by other campuses. Edwards founded Green
end violence.
Dot, Etc. to bring the approach to college campuses, high
•  Talk to a guy friend of yours about the importance of
schools and military bases across the country.
men getting involved in prevention.
They also run a Green Dot Institute to train others in
•  Ask five people in your life how power-based perorder to further spread the Green Dot approach. “I am
sonal violence has impacted them (directly or indirectly)
defiant against a culture that tries to lull my soul into quiet
and listen to their response.
complacency as our daughters and our sons— our partners
But perhaps most importantly, in the Green Dot
and our sisters and our brothers—face violence and the
approach students are encouraged to intervene when faced
threat of violence every single day,” says Edwards.
with a situation that may result in an assault, particularly
Coker is now working on bringing the Green Dot stratwhen alcohol is involved. They remind us all that we need
egy into high schools in Kentucky and will research its
to get educated, get equipped and act.
impact there. Funded by the Center for Disease Control,
—LSB
her study, “Green Dot Across the Bluegrass: Evaluation of
To learn more about the Green Dot strategy and about bringing
Primary Prevention Intervention to Reduce Sexual Violence
a workshop or facilitator training to your campus, go to https://
in High Schools,” is working to curb the violence before the
www.livethegreendot.com/. You can contact Carol Jordan at
carol.jordan@uky.edu and Ann Coker at ann.coker@uky.edu.
students even reach the college campus.
Women in Higher Education (www.wihe.com) / January 2015 

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