Ohio University will receive a bill from Graduate Student Senate that will mandate the university to enforce the Green Dot Bystander Intervention Program.
The Green Dot Program is a sexual assault prevention program, which uses bystanders as the main source of stopping violence. It was developed by Alteristic, a nationwide organization that looks to create a safe and equitable society.
Bystander intervention training plays a key role as a part of a comprehensive strategy to permanently reduce rates of violence, especially sexual assault.
The Green Dot Program uses a Top-Down Method. The method would train and certify administration first. Then, faculty, staff and students will be trained.
Rachel Stroup, commissioner of the Women’s Affairs Commission, said the bill will require that all university faculty and staff become certified through the program.
“Some university staff members are already certified to teach the program,” Stroup said.
The bill will also require yearly training and recertification for staff. This allows the Green Dot Program to be more effective than the current program at OU.
The Green Dot Program was made to be long term and was made with the ability to evolve. If certification is implemented every year, this will mean that all staff, new and current, will constantly be up-to-date on new skills, rules and training.
“Sexual assault is a large cultural issue at the university,” GSS President Maria Modayil said. “The program will get to the core and foundation of these issues and it can make a large cultural improvement.”
The bill will propose the university will endorse the integration of the Green Dot Program as an initiative to fight the prevalence of sexual assault.
“We (GSS) are going to push it on the university to endorse the full-scale implementation of the program,” Stroup said.
The Green Dot Program will replace Better Bystander program, the current prevention program. Better Bystander is completely voluntary and is not commonly known on campus.
“This program is much more sustainable than the current Better Bystander Program OU already has,” Modayil said.
The program is known nationwide and has already been enforced at several universities. Some of the first major schools to take on the new prevention program were University of Kentucky and University of Missouri. OU first found out about the program from Kent State University and University of Dayton.
Overall, the program has had a success rate of up to 50 percent, making it one of the most successful programs in the nation.
The Green Dot Program is a long-term investment that will cost the university $10,000 per year.
“With the type of success the program is having, the cost will be well worth it,” Gillian McCarren, senator for College of Health Sciences and Professions, said.
The bill will be sent to OU President Duane Nellis, Executive Vice President and Provost Dr. Chaden Djalali, Vice President for Student Affairs Jason Pina and Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Gigi Secuban. If the bill is passed, the Green Dot Bystander Intervention Program will be implemented at Ohio University.
