Shippensburg University will use $18K grant to empower bystanders of sexual assault

Shippensburg University will build on its network supporting victims of sexual assault by implementing an intervention program to stop power-based violence before it gets too far. 

The state university was recently awarded an $18,000 grant by Gov. Tom Wolf and the statewide "It's On Us PA" campaign to curb sexual assault on campuses. It will use the funding to expand its "Ship Says No More" campaign and offer educational programming to build a community of bystanders.  

SU will bring on the Green Dot campaign, a bystander-intervention program used in colleges across the country that has been shown to lower rates of sexual assault, dating and domestic violence, stalking and other related crimes in college communities. 

Through Green Dot, students and other members of the campus community learn ways to intervene when they see these kinds of incidents happening. The program provides a framework and common language that engages a broad bystander community and addresses high risk intervention, improving response systems, shifting norms of inaction and strengthening policy and enforcement, according to a university news release. 

More:SU receives $27,000 to fight campus sexual assault

"Applying for this grant and expanding our work to end sexual assault is not in response to address a problem at Shippensburg University, it is so we can be a part of the solution in our community," said university spokesperson Megan Silverstrim. "With this grant, we continue to give our students important tools they will carry into their communities and careers. This is how we can do our part to enact change and bring an end to sexual assault."

SU reported 12 sexual assaults or related incidents in a thee-year period ending in 2017, according to its 2018 crime report. The government requires schools that receive federal funding to report these statistics. 

Five of those were rapes. There was one in 2015, and two each in 2016 and 2017. Most happened in campus housing.

There were also five incidents of dating violence reported. Each of those as well as one domestic-violence incident took place in campus housing. There was also one incident of stalking, also in campus housing. 

More:Opinion: Sexual assault never becomes 'ancient history' for victims

In that same time period, the university reported two aggravated assaults and two robberies, all off campus. Burglary was the only crime more prevalent than those related to sexual assault, with 22 reported in the three-year period. 

However, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, more than 90 percent of victims of sexual assault on college campuses do not report what happened. 

About a quarter of women in college are victims of sex by force. NSVRC says 20 to 25 percent of college women are victims, while the anti-sexual violence organization RAINN says 23 percent of female undergraduate students experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence or incapacitation.

Nationally, 11.2 percent of all undergraduate and graduate students fit into that category, according to RAINN. 

“Through education, we have the opportunity to not only end sexual violence on our campus, but in our community. We can inspire our students, faculty and staff to take a stand in their communities and make a difference,” said Laurie Carter, president of Shippensburg University. 

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SU received its first It's On Us PA grant in 2016 and with it established a 24/7-advocacy line in partnership with a local domestic violence and sexual assault center. The line provides students support and information about sexual misconduct. The university also improved training and reporting processes. 

"The “It’s On Us PA” campaign builds on the momentum of the national campaign with a focus on college and university presidents, superintendents, administrators, teachers, students, families and community members. By bringing these groups together across the state, the initiative works to reframe the conversation around sexual violence. Ship is one of 38 colleges and universities to receive the grant," the news release said. 

Below: A long-form video on sex assault on college campuses. An introductory video can be seen at the top of this story.