While participating in an off-campus program in Mexico last year, Liz Allen '06 said she discovered that despite the popularity of off-campus programs, the sexual assault resources usually available on campus were not accessible abroad.
Allen's personal experiences motivated her to form Abroad Change, a group working to extend sexual assault resources to students on Dartmouth off-campus programs.
"The barriers, such as the cultural divide, language barrier, physical distance and lack of accessibility to Dartmouth resources make it more isolating than it already is," Allen said.
In an informal survey conducted by Abroad Change in mid-February, 19 out of 89 respondents reportedly said they had been sexually assaulted or experienced unwanted sexual contact during their off-campus program. Seventy-five percent of the perpetrators were strangers. Abby Tassel, coordinator of the sexual abuse awareness program, said the occurrence of sexual assault on abroad programs is a significant problem.
"I think a lot of Dartmouth students get assaulted abroad by other Dartmouth students and by the families they are staying with, the same way it could happen here," Tassel said.
For on-campus violations, Dartmouth has a set of "first responders," which includes many of the deans. This team is trained to respond to sexual assault incidents and follows a set protocol when a student reports sexual assault. Abroad Change is working on extending that protocol to advisors of off-campus programs as well, said Robin Rathmann-Noonan '05, a member of the group.
The protocol will prepare program advisors to deal with sexual assault victims in a productive manner. It includes a description of what to expect when approached by a student who has been sexually assaulted, a bulleted list of the procedure for helping the student and a list of resources for the student.
Most importantly, Rathmann-Noonan said, Abroad Change is attempting to incorporate student training into the pre-trip orientations, so the students are familiar with the available resources and whom to approach with problems. On many programs, students are without regular access to computers or phones, so they need to know about their support system, Allen said.
In addition to an overall protocol, Abroad Change is tailoring its resources for the individual programs. As cultural norms change for each program, the resources do as well. A major part of Abroad Change's plan is to prepare students for the different culture they will be entering, Rathmann-Noonan said.
Rathmann-Noon emphasized the need for students to honestly discuss cultural differences prior to departure. For example, one assumption held by some foreigners is that "American girls are easy," based on perceptions from "Baywatch" and other similar programs, she said. According to Rathmann-Noonan, students need to know how to handle and respond to these assumptions in a way that avoids unwanted attention.
For Abroad Change to succeed, each individual department will need to implement its own training for the program's advisors and include the information in student orientation. One of Abroad Change's goals is to provide each student with an emergency phone card and a list of emergency numbers, including the police, hospital, taxi and his or her adviser's number. Rathmann-Noonan said the organization would provide students with emergency contraception prior to departure and also subsidize emergency sexually transmitted disease testing should an assault occur.
Allen said she hopes that Abroad Change will soon extend every support available in Hanover to Dartmouth students throughout the world.
"I envision creating resources and a support network for students that are assaulted abroad," Allen said. "Sexual assault causes major problems and trauma. So much of this can be avoided or supported."
