Virginia Tech

Location

Blacksburg, Virginia

Situation

It’s summer of 2021 and the college community in Blacksburg, VA is preparing for the return of 34,000 plus students after an 18-month absence due to COVID. It was expected there would be an uptick in misconduct after months of isolation. So, the Virginia Tech community including the police department, Division of Student Affairs, Dean of Students, Office for Equity and Accessibility, the Women’s Center and other auxiliary groups combined forces to establish a multi-pronged plan to implement safety and preventive measures and additional resources for victim support. Increased safety, education, preventive programming and increased messaging were all part of the comprehensive plan.

“Historically, we’ve put it on the victims to defend themselves and protect themselves,” said Christine Smith, co-director of services at the Women’s Center. “That doesn’t work, nor is it fair to put that on the victim. As a community, if we have bystanders engaging in the process and who know what the options are to do, then that’s going to be much more effective.”

The Soteria Solution

Bringing in the Bystander® – College Prevention Program

One prevention program coordinated by the Women’s Center is Bringing in the Bystander (BITB), an evidence-based program based on decades of bystander intervention research. The program has been licensed by Virginia Tech since 2018 and was readily incorporated into the prevention programming as the college and community stakeholders coordinated their efforts anticipating increases in risky behaviors as students returned to campus.

Train the Trainer – four staff from the Women’s Center were trained on Bringing in the Bystander through a virtual train the trainer event led by Soteria Solutions experts on bystander intervention and the Bringing in the Bystander program. The Women’s Center now trains additional facilitators and leverages the two hour workshop as well as the virtual implementation guide that Soteria Solutions developed to assist colleges in reaching students virtually. BITB enables students to learn bystander skills and how to safely and effectively intervene whether it is before, during or after a situation has occurred.

Virginia Tech officials believe so firmly in Bringing in the Bystander that they plan on hiring another prevention specialist to reach more students with this program. This position will be part of the Hokie Wellness department within the Division of Student Affairs.

Results

Bringing in the Bystander is one of the programs that is part of the Hokie Collective. Hokie Collective is a program that provides ongoing opportunities for student education at the organization or individual level on topics related to actively caring for their community. These opportunities help increase knowledge about the diverse experiences and perspectives of the Hokie community and build the capacity to disrupt unjust systems and norms, build inclusive environments and communities, and lead effectively with care. The goal of the Hokie Collective, an interdepartmental organization, is to empower students and organizations to create inclusive, welcoming environments that are led with respect and care.

Thousands of students learn about bystander intervention as many organizations across campus take advantage of the by request program (BITB) through in-person workshops, virtual sessions or adapted excerpts incorporated into courses. Community leaders and stakeholders across campus are encouraged to hear ‘what did not happen last weekend’ as more students learn bystander intervention skills.