Green Dot ODU works to build a shared vision of a violence free campus and a shared sense of responsibility for campus safety. Research demonstrates that incidents of sexual assault, relationship violence and stalking begin to plummet by as much as 50% when faculty, staff, and students become active in spreading the Green Dot message.
Through faculty and staff presentations and student bystander training, Green Dot shows how each of us can choose to replace moments of potential harm (red dots) with moments of safety and support (green dots). Ultimately, ODU's Green Dot iniative fosters a campus climate where all Monarchs can pursue their college dreams feeling respected and valued.
Why does this matter?
Interpersonal violence occurs on such a staggering scale, all of us are affected by it in some way. Consider the loss of human potential represented by these statistics:
- 1 in 5 women at college are sexually assaulted
- 1 in 10 men experience unwanted sexual contact in their lives
- 1 in 3 students experience relationship abuse
- 1 in 3 transgender, gender non-conforming and queer students are sexually assaulted
- 1 in 6 women and 1 in 19 men are stalked
Imagine a future where the people represented by these numbers never became victims because a bystander stepped up and did something to prevent the violence from happening. Instead of spending years recovering from trauma and potentially having their lives derailed, these people could direct all their energy toward creating, nurturing, innovating and building a better world. How wonderful would that be...?
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