This article is featured in the 2025 Commencement & Reunions special issue.
Founded 10 years ago, the Sexual Violence Prevention Project holds compulsory seminars for all Dartmouth students throughout their four years at the College. The termly classes focus on helping students develop positive relationships with sex and bystander intervention as a way to stop assault. The group’s work is truly unique among college campuses, according to Carolyn Yee ’25, who sits on SVPP’s Student Advisory Board. The Dartmouth sat down with Yee to discuss SVPP and the power of mandatory sexual violence prevention curricula.
Tell me a bit about your role with SVPP.
CY: On the Student Advisory Board, we talk a lot about our thoughts on the SVPP experience. There are people of all grade levels. We provide feedback. Usually SVPP directors will run by some pilots of new activities and hear our thoughts on it, making sure the activity is relevant to students and that it’s helpful and engaging, working towards fostering all the skills that they want us to gain.
How did SVPP training go this year?
CY: I thought it went really well. We’ve received an overwhelming amount of students who have said SVPP has been really helpful. A lot of ’28s have mentioned that being introduced to positive resources on campus was really helpful, even if they received a lot of information all at once.
A lot of student testimonies have been shared with us. We have students that said, “I have felt more educated,” that they know how to connect with other people and offer support in a respectful way. I think the students derived a lot of community bonding from being able to hear from their classmates and to see that they were all there for the same reason.
Could you talk a bit about the sexual assault culture on campus and how it has changed over the years?
CY: From my perspective, I think people are becoming more aware of what processes you can go through and what people you can reach out to. I’ve seen a lot more people feel really comfortable opening up about where you can go, who you can talk to and what the process looks like. It makes me really happy. It’s hard to measure if Dartmouth is a safer environment or not, but the attitudes I’ve seen towards sexual violence have definitely been way more open. A lot of Greek spaces are really open to making sure that their events are safe and that people feel safe at their events. Nothing’s perfect, but there’s been a shift in attitude.
Could you talk a bit about why SVPP is so important and how it differs from other forms of sexual assault prevention?
CY: I would say that SVPP is critical for so many reasons. I think one of the big things is that it’s preventative. It creates this community that would make it so people wouldn’t even get to the point where they might harm someone. The responsibility wasn’t placed on the victim. It’s placed on the community. And I think that’s what’s led to more long-lasting results.
I think that another big thing that’s made SVPP so different is its research. Every single module that’s built out has been really heavily researched and vetted. Everything is done with such intentionality that often goes overlooked. For the people who are facilitating — their job is making sure they can engage with students in a way that’s helpful to them.
Where do you hope to see SVPP go in the future?
CY: Our program has been novel. This is a very new program. It hasn’t been done before. And this past year, we’ve had outreach from other institutions like Stanford University who wanted to implement something just like this. It’s making a difference. It’s something that other institutions are looking towards as well.
Looking forward, I think SVPP would be looking out to build out the junior and senior experiences. For seniors transitioning into post-grad — what does sexual violence look like in the workforce? How can we continue these SVPP skills and core values once you’re out in the real world? We’ve talked about this on the Student Advisory Board, and I don't know how much is set in stone, but I am actually really excited about it.
What did you wish students knew about SVPP?
CY: SVPP and the Student Wellness Center genuinely care so much, and I think that often gets overlooked. Everyone here is so kind and so diligent and so thoughtful. They really care about what they do. That’s why we have the Student Advisory Board: because we want to make campus better for students. I cannot say enough good things about my four years at Dartmouth, and this has been one of the most meaningful things I’ve been a part of.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
