Iowa State University has chosen to implement Green Dot, a nationally-recognized bystander intervention training program, as a way to reduce and prevent violence on campus.

After months of researching different programs and gathering input from campus stakeholders, the Sexual Misconduct Leadership Committee, a group of Iowa State administrators, students and community partners, selected Green Dot to start implementation in the 2017-18 school year, according to a press release.

“Green Dot was selected by our campus because it is a comprehensive, evidenced-based campus approach to end sexual violence,” Keith Robinder, interim dean of students and chair of the ISU Sexual Misconduct Leadership Committee, said in the release. “The emphasis on student engagement and bystander intervention is a great fit for the culture of student involvement at Iowa State.”

The program will begin implementation immediately, with its first priority to select 25 to 40 faculty and staff volunteers who will serve as Green Dot facilitators. The volunteers will participate in a 40-hour training curriculum, which is slated to take place at no cost from July 10 to July 14.

In addition to those volunteers, recruitment has already begun for student violence prevention peer educators. Their task will be to aid in implementing the program.

Green Dot works by training faculty and students on the three Ds: direct intervention, delegate and distract.

Direct intervention has bystanders actively stop or prevent violence that happens in front of them. The program also teaches bystanders how to best delegate and communicate with others to end or prevent a dangerous situation, and how to de-escalate situations by distracting the aggressor. 

The program will be coordinated by Jazzmine Hudson, Iowa State’s sexual misconduct prevention coordinator.  

In a campus climate survey released in 2015, researchers found that almost 9.7 percent of Iowa State students had experienced some form of sexual violence.

Green Dot hopes to change this, bringing an evidence-based, bystander-focused approach to fighting against sexual violence on campus.