As part of continual efforts to prevent sexualized violence and promote a safe campus environment following its 2013 rape chant controversy, St. Mary’s University (SMU) recently held a series of workshops during their Welcome Week.
Called “Safe at SMU,” the workshops were developed by SMU’s President’s Council Action Team (PCAT), a body formed in 2013 after the release of a video showing frosh facilitators leading students in a chant promoting underage sex without consent.
The team provided a list of 20 recommendations aimed at fostering cultural change at the university.
“We have decided as a team that we need to start out right on day one setting students up for success,” said Esther Enns, chair of PCAT. “We wanted to have a very comprehensive, rich set of events where students can learn how to proactively deal with these issues in a comfortable and congenial environment.”
The hour-long workshops focused on three topics: cultural safety, sexual consent, and academic safety.
Because of St. Mary’s large international student population, the cultural safety component of the workshops aims to help students explore how people may interpret the world differently depending on their cultural background or upbringing.
The sexual consent component of the workshops helps students to better understand the concept of consent, and how to intervene as a bystander in potentially dangerous situations.
The workshops are facilitated by upper-year students, who also had the opportunity to help develop the content of the workshops.
“A veteran student speaking to a first-year is probably what I would call the biggest critical success factor in these workshops,” said Heidi Weigand, director of the Centre for the Study of Sport and Health at SMU. “The message becomes so much more powerful when it is delivered from peer to peer.”
Weigand said she believed the involvement of upper-year students contributed to the workshops’ authenticity.
“The students helped to develop the material, which made the success of the workshops their success,” she said.
Aside from offering workshops throughout the school year, St. Mary’s is also giving students the chance to participate in a bystander training program developed at the University of New Hampshire, according to Enns.
The school will also be collaborating with other universities and community groups to improve its response protocol for sexual assault, while professors will be featuring topics relating to safety and consent in their courses.
Amali Armony, president of the St. Mary’s University Students’ Association, said it works collaboratively alongside the school to develop both Welcome Week as well as the year-long experience.
“The student voice is critical and we play an important role around addressing the prevention of sexualized violence,” Armony said.
