A new training program teaches professors to serve as resources for sexual assault survivors. Hosted by the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning and Sexual Abuse Awareness Program, the 90-minute sessions use interactive discussion to teach faculty how to assist students and colleagues that seek their help after incidents of sexual violence.
Participants learn how to listen to students, assess situations and give control back to survivors, writing professor Peggy Baum said. Between 10 and 15 faculty members have attended each of the three sessions that have taken place since December.
SAAP coordinator Rebekah Carrow, who facilitates the training sessions, said the program seeks to increase faculty awareness of campus resources available for students who have experienced sexual assault.
“What I hope comes out of these trainings is that, no matter what door a survivor walks into, they will encounter someone who has the skills and information necessary to provide assistance,” Carrow said. “It’s exciting to identify more folks who can serve as an initial point of contact for survivors.”
The Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault advocated for a new program after identifying faculty as a community from which students might seek help after experiencing sexual violence, Carrow said. The program specifically targets faculty members because although many have been approached by students for assistance and consolation after sexual abuse, they have historically had the lowest access to training.
The July 2013 SPCSA recommendations advised faculty members to seek out “First Responder” training through the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning and SAAP, spurring the organizations to further develop their training program. SPCSA also urged faculty to educate themselves on sexual assault at Dartmouth and on other campuses and to share what they learned with their students.
Baum said she hopes to bring someone from SAAP into her first-year writing classes to teach students about the resources available to them on campus.
Women’s and gender studies professor Giavanna Munafo, who said she has been approached by student survivors of sexual assault in the past, participated in last week’s session to ensure her knowledge of campus resources was up to date.
“Your Ph.D. doesn’t tell you how to do these things,” women’s and gender studies professor Giavanna Munafo said.
The session emphasized that when a student approaches a faculty member, they should respond by listening and prioritizing the student’s safety.
Baum said she wished that the program discussed sexual assault on campus in less generic terms. For example, she said the sessions should implement opportunities to role-play, as hearing about how to react is different from the actual experience of reacting.
The program is not mandatory for faculty members, and neither Munafo nor Baum said they thought it should be required.
“I think to learn something, you have to want to learn it,” Baum said.
Although DCAL and SAAP currently focus on training new participants, they hope to add booster sessions with additional information later, Carrow said.
