Changing Campus Culture
While going through the Campus Culture project, I have gained an insight into many problems at the University of Iowa. The Qualtrics survey surprised me; so many people actually had personal experiences on campus relating to our established guidelines, either breaking them or following them. Simply exposing students to this kind of program will greatly improve the campus environment. Bystander intervention training and the campus culture projects taking place in the rhetoric classroom will definitely improve the campus culture.
Personally, while I don’t go out to bars, parties, or other typical campus weekend activities where these guidelines typically turn out to be necessary, I can still make another commitment to changing campus atmosphere in the classroom. If I hear a joke in the classroom that perpetuates rape culture, such as ‘raping’ a test, then I won’t be afraid to confront that person and explain to them that what they’re doing is wrong.
In the residence halls or dining areas, I now know some warning signs about an impending sexual assault. If I see any of these warning signs, I will make a commitment to intervening, either directly, or more likely, indirectly. Or, if I do see something happening in public, I will intervene. My preferred methods of intervening would likely be to pass my observations off to someone with authority. Either campus police, the owner of an establishment, an RA, or someone else in charge. If there’s no one else around, then I would have a commitment to directly intervene and stop the situation, but that’s about at the edge of my comfort zone.
In conclusion, in order to create a more welcoming and safe campus environment for all involved, every student has to make the commitment to ending the harmful culture on campus. If everyone is out to stop harmful situations, then the mantra on campus: “Hawks help hawks,” can really mean something.
