Rachel Wolthuizen

Office On Violence Against Women

The University of Sioux Falls has been busy with a number of new impact programs. With the help of a grant from the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), USF has begun bringing even more awareness of violence on campus. Violence can come in many forms like dating violence, domestic abuse, stalking, sexual assault, and more. Because of the commonality of these things in today’s world, USF has brought forth multiple ways to provide a safe space here on campus.

The OVW grant, according to Rachel Wolthuizen, Safe Campus Project Director, is “a grant that is given to college campuses in the United States, surrounding 5 main areas to implement on campus: Victim services, student conduct, law enforcement, CCRT (coordinated community response team), and ongoing prevention. I help with services to be provided, events for specific groups of people and training”

Wolthuizen has been given the role of overseeing the grant from OVW and how it can be used to better USF. Wolthuizen works with students, staff, faculty, and off campus resources to provide those experiencing or witnessing any of these crimes, a safe place to report, be consoled and taken care of. She provides training, programming and awareness of gender based crimes and more.

There are two main programs that students can get involved in. One being Green Dot; Green Dot is a bystander intervention team that is trained to intervene when they witness any kind of domestic/ dating violence. There is also Cougar Awareness Team (CAT); CAT is a team of students providing insights to campus behaviors and ideas about how to bring an end to gender-based crimes. There are also plenty of events that occur on campus for students to take part in.

Wolthuizen strongly encourages students to get involved in any capacity, because “if we don’t talk about it (domestic violence), it doesn’t stop it from happening.” Wolthuizen says don’t be afraid to reach out to her, Dennis Thum, Michelle D.K., or if it’s more comfortable, student leaders. “This grant is for students, and it is capable of making a change on campus. If you have questions, comments, concerns, or ideas, please tell us about them! We want to use the grant to its full potential and educate as many people as we can.”

To get involved, look out for posters, emails, or the USF app, or reach out to Rachel Wolthuizen. If you are experiencing or witnessing anything even close to domestic abuse, dating violence, stalking, sexual assault, gender based crimes, etc., please reach out to anybody mentioned in this article, or contact 9-1-1, 9-8-8, The Compass Center, ASAP, The Link, or anything that can get you and/or others in a space as safe as possible.

BY: EVAN WIBBEN