Universities have a problem with sexual assault and harassment: here’s how to fix it

Universities in Australia have a serious problem with sexual assault and sexual harassment. The Australian Human Rights Commission’s survey, released today, documents that large numbers of

students have experienced sexual assault and harassment. This is no surprise. National and international studies have already established that the risks of sexual and dating violence are

highest among university-aged populations. And key risk factors for sexual violence, including sexist norms and gender inequalities, thrive in some campus contexts. Universities are already

adopting systems and policies for responding to victims and survivors. But they also must act to prevent sexual assault and harassment from happening in the first place. EDUCATION IS A KEY

RESPONSE It may be tempting for universities to adopt tokenistic measures aimed largely at placating parents and reassuring international student markets. But a real effort demands more

comprehensive strategies to prevent violence among students and staff. A key element of campus prevention efforts should be violence prevention education. Teaching and learning strategies

are the most widely used tools of violence prevention. There is significant scholarship in this field, including more than 100 published evaluations of university-based prevention programs.

These show that face-to-face education programs are effective in preventing and reducing violence. If done well, these can reduce students’ adherence to attitudes that support rape, decrease

victim-blaming, increase students’ willingness to intervene, and even lower rates of actual perpetration. However, if poorly designed and implemented, some programs produce no positive

impact or even make things worse. It will be useless, and indeed harmful, if universities adopt programs that fall short of standards for effective practice in violence prevention education.

Some Australian universities already host programs on sexual consent, healthy relationships, bystander intervention and related topics. These programs are of varying quality. Few if any

meet well-established criteria for effective practice. Most are far too brief to make change, comprising only one or two hours of instruction. Most are not designed to be sustained or

integrated into the institution. And none have been subjected to robust impact evaluation (although some are based on other, evaluated programs). IMPORTANCE OF A HOLISTIC APPROACH Effective

practice in violence prevention education on campus has five essential elements: * a whole-of-institution approach * a long-term vision and funding * effective curriculum delivery * relevant

and tailored practice * evaluation. Whatever means a university adopts to educate its students about violence, these must be embedded in a whole-of-institution approach. This includes

educating students and staff, changing organisational policies and practices, and building an equitable university culture. Reviews of violence prevention and relationships education are

unanimous in advocating a whole-of-organisation or institution-wide approach. This applies to the university context, in particular. This also requires systems of response to victims and

perpetrators, stakeholder involvement (including by students and community violence-focused agencies), accountability systems, and reporting on outcomes. Prevention requires a long-term

approach, including resourcing, staffing and senior-level leadership. WHAT IS AN EFFECTIVE PROGRAM? What does the effective delivery of violence prevention curriculums look like? They must

tackle the factors known to drive violence, including violence-supportive and sexist attitudes and gender inequalities. They also must tackle both physical and sexual violence. In practice

these often overlap and co-occur, as do their risk and protective factors. Effective programs are interactive, participatory and involve small-group learning. They include activities focused

on skills development (seeking consent, resolving conflict, and so on). They have protocols for responding to disclosures of victimisation and perpetration. To work well, programs must run

for long enough and intensively enough to produce change. While brief, one-session programs among students are common, none have demonstrated lasting effects on risk factors or behaviour.

Lengthier programs have greater impacts, as a wide range of reviews and analyses have shown. At least five classroom sessions is a reasonable minimum. Both mixed-sex and single-sex classes

have advantages and disadvantages. The optimum strategy may be a sequenced mix of both. Finally, it should be university staff who teach violence prevention education on campus. This

facilitates a whole-of-institution approach, enables more effective integration of curricula, and fosters student wellbeing. While some recommend using peer educators (other students), a

review and meta-analysis find that peer educators are no more effective or less effective than professional presenters. The fourth essential element of effective violence prevention on

campuses is relevant and tailored practice. Good-practice programs are informed by knowledge of their audiences and local contexts. This means they are tailored for particular campus

populations. Finally, universities must evaluate and improve their violence prevention efforts. This requires them to gather robust data on their impacts on violence-related attitudes and

behaviours. Australian universities have a critical opportunity to adopt world-leading initiatives in campus-based prevention.vStrong prevention frameworks are already available, such as

Change the Story and national plans of action. Overseas, university bodies such as the Universities UK Taskforce have shown national-level leadership. It is time for Australian universities

to step up and adopt a comprehensive, long-term and multi-pronged prevention strategy. ------------------------- _If you need support, help is available._ _* National university support

line: 1800 572 224 (From July 31 to November 30, 2017)_ _* 1800 RESPECT: 1800 737 732_ _* Lifeline: 13 11 14_ _* Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636_