Using the community psychology competencies to address sexual assault on a college campus

Sexual assault on college campuses is a national issue, with a recent report from the White House estimating that 20% of women will experience a sexual assault during college. Students at Wichita State University formed a campus organization to bring visibility to both community psychology and address this important problem. The Community Psychology Association is comprised of both graduate and undergraduate students, and members utilized three community psychology competencies: ecological perspectives, information dissemination/building public awareness, and community organizing and community advocacy in their work to improve resources and campus support for this issue. Community Psychology Association members utilized focus groups with campus students, faculty, and staff to facilitate discussions on sexual assault, campus safety, and university and administrative accountability. Content analysis revealed multiple themes that were used to generate a larger campus discussion and promote change in campus policies. As a result of these activities, major changes occurred at Wichita State, including data driven programming for interventions regarding sexual assault, changes in leadership in the offices of Title IX and Student Affairs, support for a CDC grant, and overall increased organizational awareness for sexual assault survivors. This study highlights the importance of applying community psychology principles and concepts to research and action to ultimately have a positive and tangible impact on the local community. Context for Using the Competencies with Campus Sexual Assault The White House recently made headlines by reporting that approximately one out of five women would experience a sexual assault during their attendance at a university, and the Association of American Universities published the results of their study showing a range of incidence between 13% and 30% (White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault, 2014; Cantor, et.al., 2015). The Community Psychology Association at Wichita State University (WSU) recognized the need for an examination of this issue on their campus after a sexual assault occurred in a new dormitory and students and faculty were dissatisfied with 1 All student statistics are reported by Wichita State University through their office of Planning and Analysis: http://www.wichita.edu/thisis/home/?u=opa the University’s response. Three community psychology competencies guided the Community Psychology Association in an effort to address sexual assault on WSU’s campus. The competencies most relevant to the issue were Ecological Perspectives, Information Dissemination and Building Public Awareness, and Community Organizing and Community Advocacy. This article discusses community psychology students’ engagement with research and practice regarding sexual assault prevention and the resulting positive impact on the university community. Ecological Perspectives Wichita State University1 (WSU) is situated in an urban setting within the city of Wichita, Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice Volume 8, Issue 1 March 2017 Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, http://www.gjcpp.org/ Page 6 Kansas. Its student body is split between a majority of commuters (those students who live off campus) and a smaller percentage of students living in on-campus housing. Importantly, that dynamic began rapidly changing in the fall of 2014. With the construction and occupation of new dorms on campus, the residential student population more than doubled literally overnight. Neither the situation of a college campus within an urban setting, nor the large proportion of commuter students make the ecology of WSU unique. What does make Wichita State unique is the rapid expansion of a residential population, a lack of relationship with urbanand community-based sexual assault services, and a lack of experience with sexual assault (due to a relatively small residential student population). This ecological context was important to both the assault that happened in the fall of 2014 (Miller, 2014; Sunflower, 2014), the dissatisfying university response, and a growing realization that the culture at Wichita State needed to be examined in order to improve campus response to sexual assault. Many urban universities work with the communities in which they are located, establishing relationships with organizations specializing in assault or trauma to provide consistent information and support for those who survive an assault. For example, DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, provides information about the Chicago Rape Crisis Hotline and also works with the local YWCA to train faculty and staff to be certified rape crisis workers (Sexual & Relationship Violence Prevention, 2016). Wichita State has not cultivated the same relationships with community partners. The Wichita Area Sexual Assault Center (WASAC) is a leader in crisis intervention in Wichita, and yet the WSU website provides no information about the services WASAC can provide. The university has essentially tried to handle issues related to sexual assault within the confines of its own internal protocols and campus safety department. The ecological context of sexual assault at WSU was unique due to: 1) the dramatic increase in residential students for which the university infrastructure was ill designed to respond and 2) the university culture that isolated the campus community from the municipal partner organizations that could provide assistance to the university given the change in environment and increase in potential on-campus sexual assaults. This unique context made ecology an important consideration when thinking about how to address this issue. By taking an ecological perspective and making the different layers of context an essential component in the approach to studying the issue, the Community Psychology Association – a student-led campus organization – was able to move the conversation away from victim blaming and individual action, instead focusing on a system that was not equipped to prevent assault from occurring. The study and ultimately the advocacy was informed by this ecological context and considered foundational to both how data were to be collected and how they should be analyzed and framed in dissemination. Information Dissemination/Building Public Awareness The crux of information dissemination and building public awareness is “giving psychology away” through engaging diverse groups in dialogue and consultation, empowering community members, and tailoring the communication of results to stakeholders to inform their action (Dalton & Wolfe, 2012). In the work undertaken at Wichita State, multiple stakeholder groups were consulted and involved in the research and action that took place. Viewing the Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice Volume 8, Issue 1 March 2017 Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, http://www.gjcpp.org/ Page 7 campus as a community with a specific ecology necessitated collaboration in the process of identifying how, where, and what to ask community members. This was done with the aim, expectation, and purpose of building awareness about the issue of sexual assault on campus, convincing the community that the problem was one that needed more direct intervention and prevention efforts. Additionally, the Community Psychology Association focused on university officials, student stakeholders, and other members of the community to have the greatest impact with dissemination of results. Community Organizing and Community Advocacy The competency of Community Organizing and Community Advocacy heavily influenced the approach to addressing sexual assault on Wichita State’s campus. Marti-Costa and Serrano-Garcia (1983) have argued “needs assessment may be utilized as a central method to facilitate the modification of social systems so they become more responsive to human needs” (p. 75). The Community Psychology Association modeled their approach to understanding the culture of sexual assault at WSU on this idea, with the strategy of using this process of learning the needs of the campus community to also mobilize constituents and activate change. They actively recruited undergraduate and graduate students to fully engage in the process of research and action focusing on sexual assault on campus. Research efforts began as the Community Psychology Association utilized this approach with stakeholder focus groups to generate qualitative data that would be linked to advocacy efforts and would describe the ecology of the campus from the perspective of individuals living in that environment. Additionally, these data provided a foundation to shift discussions away from traditional victim blaming and focus on systemic issues that would be targeted for change. The action phase involved reaching out to the Wichita Area Sexual Assault Center (WASAC) for their experience and expertise, which led to engaging with campus stakeholders including Campus Safety, the Counseling and Testing Center, the office of the Vice President of Student Affairs, the Student Government Association, the university Title IX coordinators, the office of Housing and Residence Life, Greek Life, and other campus entities. The organizing activities expanded the reach of advocacy efforts so that voices from this bottom-up work could not be immediately dismissed by university decision makers who used top-down procedures when developing and enforcing policy. Community psychology principles and these competencies were embedded in this process and helped facilitate this transition from research to action, enabling the Community Psychology Association to have a meaningful and positive impact on the Wichita State campus community through the practice of community psychology.