It’s an undisputed reality that the majority of sexual assaults that occur on college campuses involve alcohol. In most cases, either the assailant has consumed alcohol, the victim has, or both. The results of any sexual assault on campus are devastating to a campus community, and preventing alcohol abuse on campus could have a huge impact on the prevalence of sexual assault overall.
When a student is charged with an alcohol violation, your college or university needs to handle it swiftly and in accordance with proper protocol. If violations are not treated seriously with sanctions given out in a timely manner, students might detect a sense of leniency and incorrectly assume that alcohol on campus is not a big deal. To ensure that the process of handling a violation goes smoothly, your team needs to have an efficient way of communicating with each other and quickly passing through each stage of the workflow. Errors made due to confusion, miscommunication or lack of organization will only delay the progression of a case, which reinforces a student’s belief that alcohol on campus is a low-priority concern that will be tolerated. The more this belief is reinforced, the higher the risk for alcohol-related sexual assault to occur in the campus community.
Whether it’s a student who presents a concern related to repeated alcohol infractions or a student who has shown warning signs of aggression/sexual misconduct, it’s critical to have a means of practicing early intervention. Administration must step in before either of these factors lead to a dangerous situation – neither alcohol abuse on campus nor signs of sexually aggressive or inappropriate behavior can be left undealt with. Both are ingredients that add to the risk of sexual assault occurring, and administrators need a way of tracking students of concern and intervening before the issue culminates into something worse.
Advocate by Symplicity is the industry-trusted tool for handling case workflow for campus violations, tracking students of concern, practicing early intervention and more.
Even with preventative measures, it’s inevitable that there will be some degree of alcohol consumption among college students. The next step after prevention is to ensure that your students are fully informed about the rules of consent. It must be made clear to them that alcohol is never an excuse to violate someone and that individuals under the influence are not capable of giving consent. Requiring students to take classes like Consent and Respect by 3rd Millenium Classrooms is a great tool for ensuring they’re informed and clear on what constitutes consent.