Saint Xavier University has required all students to complete Every Choice Matters, a video-based program that provides information about consent, bystander intervention, sexual assault, dating violence, and more.
Students were notified that they were required to view the Every Choice Matters program on September 8, through an email from Dean of Students, Eileen P. Doherty, Ph.D. The program was supposed to be completed by all students by October 8. The new requirement came as a surprise for some students, who had never before heard of the program.
“I was a bit surprised when I found out that this is a new requirement that all students need to complete. I thought it would have been optional if anything!” said senior English major Angela Pusateri.
According to the email from Dr. Doherty, the university decided to require the program in order to help create a safe and healthy environment for all students. Dr. Doherty emphasized the Mercy mission and Catholic identity of SXU as well as the university’s commitment to respecting the dignity and worth of allpeople.
Although Pusateri was surprised by the new program, she agrees that it is important for the university. “I do think it is a good idea for the program to be required for students because it is informative and I don’t think people really understand how serious sexual assault is,” said Pusateri
The Every Choice Matters program was created by Student Success™, an organization that works with more than 300 universities to change student attitudes and behaviors about issues like sexual assault and domestic violence.
The program consisted of surveys, quizzes and videos. Many of the videos featured students who told personal stories about their experiences with issues such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking.
Much of the program focused on empowering students to intervene in situations where others might be in danger. Students were required to watch videos that portrayed a variety of scenarios that they might encounter in real life. Viewers were then asked to think about what they would do to help if they were a bystander, and they were presented variety of strategies they could use.
“I learned a lot of information I didn’t ever really think about before. I think it was useful to learn about how a bystander can stop some of these issues. I’ve never really thought about how much a bystander can really impact what happens in these situations, so it was interesting to learn about what youcan do as a bystander and how this can be done to fit with what you’re comfortable with doing to intervene,” said senior History major Kortni Springer.
Students also took a quiz to determine what the intervention strategies would be best for them based on their personalities. There were three possible results for the quiz, direct, distract, or delegate. Students whose result was direct were told that they should directly intervene, while those who received the delegate option were advised to intervene by getting someone else involved.
The videos recommended that students who received the distract options intervene by distracting those who are involved in a scenario to prevent the situation from escalating. After completing the program, students were able to print or download a certificate of achievement. Students can still access to the program until May 31, 2016 if they are interested in viewing any of the videos and information.
Both Springer, and Pusateri believe that at least some of the information from the program was interesting and useful. “I did find the program to be informative, but also a lot of it was common sense in my opinion. The videos were great visuals and I would say that I was pretty surprised by some of the statistics,” said Pusateri.
Besides requiring students to complete the Every Choice Matters program, Saint Xavier University is working to eliminate sexual violence by providing students with options for reporting complaints, resources for support and through its investigative and disciplinary process.
John Pelrine, the vice president for Student Affairs, who was named the Title IX coordinator of SXU, is responsible for oversight of complaints of sexual violence. Students can report sexual violence, sexual harassment, dating violence and stalking by emailing Pelrine at pelrine@sxu.edu.
They also have the option of filling out an online report which can be found on the Sexual Violence Policy and Resources section of the SXU website. More information about Saint Xavier’s policies on sexual assault can be found in the Student Rights, Policies, Procedures and Services section of the Student Handbook.
Yasmeen Abdellatif
News Editor
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