Jenna Crowe

Staff Writer

After coming to ISU in 2012 through a grant awarded to the Gender Resource Center, the Green Dot program is asking students to complete surveys to measure the program’s impact.

Starting at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Dorothy J. Edwards developed a business plan to reduce sexual assault based on what everyday people can do.

“Power based personal violence affects everyone: men, women, rich, poor, old, young,” said Stephanie Richardson, assistant director of the Gender Resource Center. “The more that we can work together to look out for each other the better our campus will be.”

Beginning by speaking on college campuses and military bases, she changed her plan to an attack on power-based personal violence and educating people on Red Dot behaviors, which are indicators that can show a person being capable of power-based personal violence or as a possible victim.

When the Gender Resource Center was awarded a grant, funded by the Center for Disease Control and from the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare, Edwards’ mission began changing things at ISU.

“The more people who are trained and talk about the training and encourage others to do the training, the bigger chance that violence will not have a chance to happen at ISU because we are all looking out for each other,” Richardson said.

The Green Dot program encourages students to step outside of the bystander role when they witness power-based personal violence such as bullying, sexual assault, dating/domestic violence, stalking or anything that gives someone a degree of power over another person.

“Intervening can be something as simple as checking in with a person who may appear to be upset by saying, ‘are you okay?’” Richardson said. “The purpose of training students, faculty and staff is to create a campus community at ISU that does not accept violence of any kind.”

Each year, the Gender Resource Center is asked to complete 385 surveys, which can be filled out by anyone on campus. All data is submitted to a third party and then given to the CDC.

“They hope to monitor how the program is growing, who has heard about Green Dot, how people react if they were to see a power-based personal violence situation, and to gain an idea each year of the changes on campus,” Richardson said.

Questions will examine how people would react in a variety of power-based personal violence situations.

After surveys are completed, the Gender Resource Center will know how to better adapt Green Dot marketing methods and seminars.