THE MOBILIZATION OF
BYSTANDERS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
Team Consent: Bryan Domogalla, Gregg Anderson, Tarryn Allen, Keeley Aguon,
Kevin Ghiringhelli, and Jason Chang
NOVEMBER 19, 2014
LUNDQUIST COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
Introduction
The ASUO creed states that: “The ASUO strives to provide for the social, cultural, educational
and physical development of its members, and for the advancement of their individual and
collective interests both within the University and the community at-large1”. However, on
average, 17.5% of female students at the University of Oregon will be sexually assaulted in their
4 years of college (See Appendix A). Sexual assault directly conflicts with the creed of the ASUO
by hindering the social, cultural, educational and collective interests of the students. Since May
2014, due to news, surveys, protests and other backlashes, students have become more aware
of the frequency of sexual assault at the University of Oregon (See Appendix B).
In order to uphold the creed stated above, the ASUO must immediately act to reduce the
current rate of sexual assault at the university. We are proposing to develop a mandatory
online education based program that empowers bystanders who witness the early stages of
sexual assault to intervene. By supporting this student led initiative, the ASUO can help reduce
the sexual assault rate and uphold the pledge to protect and enhance the student experience.
Situation Analysis
We analyzed external data and collected information from current students to better
understand the extent of the problem. We also conducted over 30 interviews with students at
the University of Oregon, who represented diverse backgrounds.
Key Figures and Themes
In May of 2014, three UO basketball players were accused of sexually assaulting a female
student. This incident received local and national attention and sparked debate on campus
about how sexual assault was being handled by the administration (See Appendix B). Following
the incident, students held protests at the President’s office demanding his resignation.
Furthermore, students insisted that the issue of sexual assault be brought into the public
forum.
Jennifer Freyd, a faculty member of the UO psychology department, received funding in the
summer of 2014 to conduct a study of 1,036 University of Oregon students. Her objective was
to investigate diverse topics surrounding sexual assault. Of the 686 female students surveyed,
193 answered that they had been fondled without their consent; 86 answered that someone
had attempted to orally, anally, or vaginally rape them; and 59 answered that they had been
orally, vaginally, or anally raped. Of the 336 male students surveyed, 42 answered that they
were fondled without their consent; 7 answered that someone had attempted to orally or
anally rape them; and 7 reported being orally or anally raped (See Appendix A).
1 http://uoregon.orgsync.com/org/associatedstudentsofuo/whois
When asked where these incidents occurred, 58% reported that the incident happened in a
private residence; 17% reported in a dorm or school building; and 10% reported within a
fraternity. Furthermore, 73% of respondents reported that they knew the perpetrator prior to
the incident2.
Prevention Not Reaction
Regardless of what happens in the future, sexual assault can never be undone and for this
reason we want to focus our efforts on prevention. Sexual assault has a gripping and wide
range of effects on victims; however, each of the below detriments is a derivative of the actual
incident. By targeting and empowering bystanders to intervene and prevent sexual assault
before it happens, we can entirely eliminate the devastating effects that follow. In no way
exhaustive, the following list from RAINN (Rape Abuse Incest National Network) and US News
article, illustrates some of the effects that sexual assault has on victims3:





Traumatizing physical abuse
A 13 times higher likelihood of attempting suicide
Chronic physical and psychological conditions for 80% of victims
Higher rates of depression, PTSD, substance abuse and eating disorders
Higher dropout rates of victims4
To prevent these situations students need to be able to recognize the actions leading up to
sexual assault. Pre-sexual assault consists of the events that lead to sexual assault. The
indicators are often not definitive and therefore are difficult to identify. According to the
University of Chicago, some potential indicators of pre-sexual assault include5:




Using hostile or possessive language about their victims
Encouraging someone to drink beyond their tolerance level
Preventing the victim from leaving the situation
Forcing someone to do something after they resisted initially
What is a Bystander?
According to MIT’s Philosophy department: “A Bystander is a person who observes a conflict or
unacceptable behavior. It might be something serious or minor, one-time or repeated, but the
Bystander knows that the behavior is destructive or likely to make a bad situation
worse6”. Applying this definition to our specific context, we will define a bystander of presexual assault as someone who witnesses observably dangerous behavior between two
2
http://media.oregonlive.com/steve-duinimpact/other/UO%20Campus%20Survey%20Preliminary%20Results%2030%20September%202014.pdf
3 https://www.rainn.org/get-information/effects-of-sexual-assault
4 http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/01/22/white-house-task-force-seeks-to-tackle-college-sexual-assault
5 http://www.uic.edu/depts/owa/sa_warning_signs.html
6
http://web.mit.edu/bystanders/definition/index.html
individuals and can potentially infer that these actions might lead to sexual assault.
Furthermore, we must differentiate between active and inactive bystanders. According to MIT,
“An active bystander takes steps that can make a difference” whereas an inactive bystander
does not intervene, allowing the situation to continue. When inactive bystanders are changed
to active bystanders they can play a large role in preventing sexual assault.
Types of Bystanders
Bystanders who have insufficient information to determine whether the actions between
individuals are potentially dangerous or not:
The first type of bystander, one who has insufficient information to make an accurate
assessment of the situation, is a dominant theme found within our research. Tabachinick, who
is an expert at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, states that “Research has
repeatedly demonstrated that most men are opposed to violence against women; however,
many do not recognize when it is happening7”. An article from the Baylor psychology
department defines the major motives of this bystander as doubt and rationalization8. In doubt,
the bystander may recognize behavior as odd but without knowing the relationship between
the individuals, they are not confident enough to determine the behavior is dangerous.
Following doubt is rationalization, unable to definitively conclude the situation is dangerous,
the bystander rationalizes that it is not and that nothing bad will result from the interaction.
The combination of doubt and rationalization ultimately leads to inaction and the allowance of
potentially dangerous pre-sexual assaults to manifest into full-fledged sexual assaults.
Bystanders who recognize the potential danger of the interaction between individuals but do
not feel responsible for intervening:
The second type of bystander is one who has sufficient evidence to conclude that the behavior
is dangerous but doesn’t feel compelled to intervene. This type of bystander engages in victim
blaming. The Psychology Department at Humboldt defines victim blaming as: “Putting blame
for the occurrence of a traumatizing event on the survivor instead of blaming the perpetrator.
Victim blaming can be very implicit. For example, recommendations that women not wear
revealing clothing or not travel alone at night imply that such actions provoke rape9”. This type
of bystander does not intervene because it isn’t “their problem” or “she shouldn’t have gotten
herself into that situation”. Despite having the awareness and ability to intervene, this type of
bystander chooses not to.
7
Tabachnick, J. (2008). Engaging bystanders in sexual violence prevention.Enola, PA: National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/25042.pd
9
http://www2.humboldt.edu/stoprape/definitions.html
8
Bystanders who recognize the potential danger of the interaction between individuals but do
not intervene for fear of verbal, physical, or social repercussions of doing so:
The third type of bystander is the bystander who recognizes the potential danger of a situation,
feels compelled to act, but does not do so for fear of verbal, physical, or social repercussions.
This type of bystander is characterized in Violence and Victims, a book on bystander
perceptions of sexual assault10. This student may not know many people in a situation and
therefore, are not sure if their peers will support them if they take action. Students also face
potential social and verbal repercussions when they intervene because they can interfere on
someone’s relationship. Physical repercussions also deter some students from intervening, in
fear that others will hurt them for their actions. This type of bystander simply is unsure that
they have the power and support to intervene even though they want to.
Why Bystanders
The reason bystanders are so powerful is because peer groups are highly influential on social
behavior. When bystanders intervene they have the potential to establish a standard of which
behaviors will be tolerated and which will not11. Bystander intervention plays a role in helping
to change and set social and community norms7. If bystanders choose to intervene and not
tolerate sexual assault, they can help foster a culture in which it is much less likely to happen.
Objectives
It is unrealistic to assume that sexual assault can be completely eliminated at the University of
Oregon. It must also be noted that the effects of a program will not take place immediately
because it requires a shift in cultural norms and expectations. With that in mind, we framed the
problem to design a solution to make a significant impact in the occurrences of sexual assault at
the University of Oregon. Our objectives are:
Reduce sexual assault at the University of Oregon by:
 Ensuring all the Students at the University of Oregon have a clear definition of sexual
assault and what pre-sexual assault looks like
 Providing all UO students with the current state of sexual assault and why it is a
problem
 Educating all UO students with effective methods of intervention
 Teaching students the logical barriers that deter bystanders from intervening
10http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/springer/vav/2012/00000027/00000004/art00008?token=00491255945c5f3b3b474666766634627
b2e7b6d2a414f582a2f3f58723375686f4911e21
11 Banyard, V. L., Moynihan, M. M., & Plante, E. G. (2007). Sexual violence prevention through bystander education: An experimental
evaluation. Journal of Community Psychology, 35(4), 463-481.
Solution
Bystanders have powerful preventative capabilities to stop sexual assault. Knowing that power,
we propose a program that will educate and give bystanders the tools to intervene and reduce
sexual assault. The program will be online based, which will allow us to easily reach all
University of Oregon students. The efficacy of spreading the program out over multiple sessions
during the year has been shown in other programs, so we will also have students complete it
each term12.
To get a better understanding of how to build an effective online program we looked at other
sexual assault programs as well as AlcoholEdu. One of the sexual assault programs we studied is
called RealConsent, which covers many topics around sexual assault and has been proven to
change student’s attitudes about sexual assault13. From studying this program we learned that
an online program provides an effective medium to educate students about sexual assault. We
also learned that incorporating challenging questions helps to keep students engaged in the
program.
Students only participate in AlcoholEdu before their freshman year, the program it lasts about
2-3 hours. Although AlcoholEdu pertains to a different topic, it follows a similar structure to our
program. This makes it a good model to analyze. According to a study done by the Prevention
Research Center, some of the deficiencies of AlcoholEdu include14:




Allows students to easily disengage with the content
Easy questions that don't make students think critically
Short-lived impact on student behavior
Excessively long and redundant
One of the most significant benefits of AlcoholEdu is that it leaves an impression on freshmen
while their cultural perceptions of college are still malleable. Our program will also aim to set a
sociocultural precedent regarding sexual assault.
Our Program
Program Structure:
Our program will consist of videos and interactive modules that force students to continuously
engage in order to pass and move on. The videos will pause if a student moves to another
window, which will help ensure students to pay attention to the program. After each module
there will be challenging questions for students to complete before they move on, testing that
they have paid attention. Every iteration of the program will be 30 minutes in length.
12
13
14
http://www.preventconnect.org/2014/10/online-sexual-violence-prevention-program-may-show-promise/
http://www.preventconnect.org/2014/10/online-sexual-violence-prevention-program-may-show-promise
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3125887/
Program Modules:
Introduction
It is important to capture the attention of students from the start of the program. To do this we
will have a prominent and respected figurehead for the University of Oregon such as Marcus
Mariota read a victim's story. This will be a powerful and emotional appeal to the students that
will give them a sense of the magnitude and seriousness of the issue. This module will also
present students with statistics regarding the current state of sexual assault. We hope to
update these statistics with continued data collection from Jennifer Freyd and the school for
each term, to show the progress.
Identification of the problem
The second module will be designed to give students a visual representation and clear
definition of pre-sexual assault. Our goal is to translate the academic definitions into real,
tangible ideas of what students need to look for so that they have an image that sticks with
them. These videos will portray realistic situations at the University of Oregon. To make these
relatable, we will film these at locations around the UO. We will have questions incorporated
into this stage of the program to ensure that students understand the content before they
move on to the next stage.
Methods of intervention
In the next module, we will provide students with proven methods of intervention so that
students can feel more comfortable diffusing situations. We will also educate students about
why bystanders often fail to intervene in situations. A study done at UC Berkeley showed that if
bystanders understand social psychology concepts that cause bystanders to fail to intervene;
then they will be more likely to recognize those situations and intervene15. In this section we
will include interactive questions for situations that give students feedback on their responses.
Program Conclusion
The program will conclude with a final test to check that they remember the information from
the program, which will have explanations for questions they missed. It will end with one final
video with the figurehead from the introduction that will thank them for being a part of the
solution. This will be a last unifying emotional appeal to motivate students to act.
Other Considerations
There are a lot of ethical and legal regulations to consider in the development and
implementation of our program. We will work closely with the administration as well as the
psychology department to make sure there are no violations.
15
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/we_are_all_bystanders).
Technical Plan
To complete and administer the program by Fall 2015:
1.Create the program (January 1st- March 31st)
a. Contact program designers
b. Cast roles for the videos, including key influential figures
c. Develop videos of real life scenarios
d. Incorporate quizzes and feedback
2. Approve Program (April 1st- April 15th)
a. Pitch finalized program to faculty
b. Consider feedback and make changes
c. Finalize program by June 12th (last day of Spring term)
3. Inform students (June 13th- September 27th) *summer break
a. Give students information about the program and its requirements
i.
UOregon e-mail
4. Implement programs (September 1st-December 4th) *fall term
a. Reach students through UOregon email
b. Require all freshmen to complete before arriving on campus in the fall
c. Require all non-freshman students to take before week 5
i. Consequences: not releasing final grades, future registration holds
5. Analyze feedback and impact of program (December 5th-19th)
a. Reflect on student responses and changes in data
6. Make changes for future programs to better assist the University (December 19th- January
4th)
a. Utilize UO computer science students to make technological changes
7. Publicize changes and success of implementing the program (January 5th- Ongoing) *first day
of winter term
a. Develop press release with results
We will be outsourcing the program aspects that we are not able to do ourselves. It will be
necessary to hire a web team to create the actual program. We will personally pitch the
finalized program to faculty and board members for its final approval, and then begin to
advertise the approved program to students. Students will automatically be contacted via their
UOregon email to complete the program. Our group will analyze the feedback we get on the
program and will work with the programmers to implement changes. We will publish the
progress of the program, to help get media attention. Finally, we will need the support of the
UO administration as well as other organizations to see this program through.
Costs
One Time Costs:
Webpage/Program Design- $16,500 (See Appendix C).
Time- 30-50 hours to create the program.
Ongoing Costs:
Program Maintenance and updates- about $250 per month16.
Opportunity Cost- Could be allocating the time and money to other resources.
Time- We estimate it will take from 10-20 hours to update the program each term with new
information.
Additional Considerations:
It is very plausible that we can offset some of these costs by getting computer science students
to perform the program maintenance. It would be mutually beneficial to have UO students get
hands on experience while helping save the university money with this program. Although the
intention of this program is to benefit the University of Oregon by reducing sexual assault, if the
program is successful, we could also lease it to other schools and institutions. This could make
the investment profitable as well as reduce sexual assault.
Conclusion
Statistics suggest that throughout the course of the school year, 660 UO students will be
sexually assaulted. That’s nearly 20 a week, or almost 3 a day. Our program educates
bystanders to intervene with proven methods to ensure the safety of themselves as well as
potential victims. With the implementation of our program, we can work towards stopping
sexual assault and create a campus culture where it is not tolerated. The longer we wait to take
action, the more students we allow to suffer from the consequences of sexual assault.
16
http://www.executionists.com/blog/cost-to-build-websites-2014/
Appendix A:
University of Oregon Sexual Assault Data
Source: http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/jjf/campus/UO-campus-incidents-13Oct14.pdf
Appendix B
Search Trends Regarding Sexual Assault
Key:
The red, blue and yellow lines are searches on Google relating to sexual assault at the University of
Oregon
The green line represents searches on Google relating to sexual assault in general
Source:
http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=University%20of%20Oregon%20Rape%2C%20Oregon%20Se
xual%20Assault%2C%20Oregon%20Rape%2C%20College%20Sexual%20Assault&date=1%2F2010%2059
m&cmpt=q
Appendix C
Website Cost Estimate
Source: http://www.webpagefx.com/How-much-should-web-site-cost.html