T HE P ILLAR A Newsletter for Parents and Families Longwood University
Volume 6 Issue 3
STEP UP! EDUCATING STUDENTS ON BYSTANDER TRAINING
BY SARAH LOTH ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF STUDENT CONDUCT AND INTEGRITY As part of New Lancer Days this year all new students will be taking part in Step Up! Bystander Intervention Program. This program is designed to encourage students to not only take into consideration the situations they are putting themselves in, but to also be an active bystander in what is going on around them as well. Step Up! was developed by the University of Arizona C.A.T.S. Life Skills Program, along with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in response to a survey that revealed that 90% of the problems students encountered on campus could have been avoided with intervention (About Step Up!). Longwood prides itself on developing Citizen Leaders and Step Up! is the perfect complement to that, in that it encourages students to See Something. Say Something. on behalf of their fellow Lancers. Students will learn skills for intervening successfully using the 5 Decision Making Steps, and the S.E.E. Model (Safe; Early; Effective). The most important piece of this training though is also teaching students to recognize within themselves their own limits as an active bystander and to be able to identify resources on campus that
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will help their peers. Many students will continue this conversation into their LSEM classes as well, where they will be able to explore more in depth their personal reasons for wanting to Step UP! in situations where others may be afraid too. Just because they are new, does not mean they do not have a voice and it is our hope that our incoming class will help lead the way in continuing to create an environment where everyone feels supported in Stepping Up for one another in times of need. For more information on this program please visit: http://stepupprogram.org/about/