Campus Sexual Violence Prevention and Response: Lessons from a Pandemic to Inform Future Efforts

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic forced institutions of higher education to transition and work in ways that were new and innovative. Even though most colleges and universities transitioned to a virtual platform, the issues that students face continued, including sexual violence (SV). For many campus prevention and response professionals, reaching students during the pandemic posed unique challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic began when the project team was 18-months into a 4-year grant to administer and evaluate the efficacy of a SV prevention and response app, uSafeUS®, at 15 4-year colleges. In this paper, we describe the transition of engaging students with the app in traditional in-person settings to remote and hybrid learning settings. The project team, in collaboration with the campus partners, devised new ways to use the app to support victims of SV and their allies, along with campus professionals in their efforts to support students. These efforts included changes to collaboration (e.g., virtual platforms) and student engagement strategies. We describe how the lessons learned from this transition are important for continuing to engage campus communities in SV prevention and response, even as campuses slowly transitioned back to hybrid and in-person activities. The knowledge gained from this transition are attributable to an ongoing and open collaboration between campus practitioners and the project team.