Collegiate Sexual Assault Online Resource Guide

• End Rape on Campus: End Rape on Campus (EROC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating campus sexual assault by providing prevention education, support for survivors, and advocacy for policy reform.
• It’s On Us: It’s On Us is an organization providing education about what constitutes affirmative consent. They look to empower students and bystanders through a pledge to take action against sexual assault.
• Know Your IX: Know Your IX is an organization dedicated to empowering students to combat gender-based violence of all kinds on campus via Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments, a landmark federal civil right prohibiting sex discrimination in education.
• Not Alone: NotAlone was launched in 2014 in connection with the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. This site includes federal publications reporting the results of mandates put in place to strengthen protection against sexual assault on college campuses

• Consent: The College Issue by FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture Action Pack, Fall 2013: This link provides a downloadable reader-friendly publication outlining the definition of affirmative consent with details and examples.
• New York State Definition of Affirmative Consent: This page includes the exact language used by the State University of New York (SUNY) system to define affirmative consent, as well as other SUNY policies on sexual violence prevention and response.
• Project Consent: Project Consent is a network of international activists promoting consent culture in their communities through sharing stories of survivors.
• Affirmative consent: A primer, by Christine Emba

Athletics

• NCAA Resources on Sexual Assault and Interpersonal Violence
• Sexual Violence Prevention: An Athletics Tool Kit for a Healthy and Safe Culture – Second Edition

Greek Life

• Sexual Assault Awareness & Prevention Resources from the National Panhellenic Conference 
  • Real Talk Time: College Panhellenic Sexual Violence Assessment Initiative
  • Sexual Assault Awareness & Prevention Toolkit
• Health and Safety Resources from the North American Interfraternity Conference

• National Sexual Violence Resource Center Page on Bystander Intervention Resources: This online resource collection offers information and resources on bystander intervention. It includes resources to use with community members and research on the effectiveness of bystander intervention.
• Preventions Innovations Research Center: The University of New Hampshire shares information and research conducted with the goal of ending sexual and relationship violence and stalking through the power of effective researcher and practitioner partnerships.
• Who are you? Bystander Intervention Video: Who Are You? is a free toolkit that uses group exercises and a short film to educate young people about the prevention of sexual violence and ethical sexual decision making.

• ‘How Much Does Sexual Assault Cost Students Every Year?’, Washington Post, Nov. 2014: Alexandra Brodsky, co-director of Know Your IX, writes about the financial costs often absorbed by survivors and their families when schools fails to make proper accommodations after an assault.
• ‘Understanding the Economic Impacts of Stalking on College-Aged Women’,Wider Opportunities for Women, Dec. 2015: This PDF of the Economic Empowerment Spotlight Newsletter details the financial and economic impact of stalking on college-aged women, as well as the financial limitations of the service organizations tasked with aiding survivors.
• What One Rape Cost Our Family, New York Times, June 2016: In this personal account, Laura Hilgers details both the financial and emotional impact of a campus sexual assault against her daughter.

Enough Is Enough Program

• Information from the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence
• Enough Is Enough: Combating Sexual Assault on College Campuses
• College Students Lead the Way: Anti-Sexual Assault Activism and “Enough Is Enough”

Enough Is Enough Onboarding Resources for New Advocates (click here to access full playlist)

• Introduction to Title IX
• Introduction to 129-B “Enough Is Enough”
• Working with Colleges and Universities
• Primary Prevention and Trainings
• Strategic Programming
• Policy Advocacy and Community Engagement
• Providing Direct Services under EIE
• Evaluating Your Work

Clery Act

• Clery Act: The Clery Act is a consumer protection law that aims to provide transparency around campus crime policy and statistics.
• Clery Act summary from Know Your IX

Title IX

• Know Your IX Resources
  • Title IX
  • The State of Title IX
  • Title IX and Supportive Measures FAQs
  • Title IX and Immigration
  • Title IX Protections for LGBT Students
• Title IX Resources and Overview: This site gives details about Title IX history and specific accounts highlighting the application of the Title IX Statute.
• Law Professors Defend Education Dept. on Burden of Proof: Law professors defend the Department of Education’s use of the preponderance of evidence standard for sexual assault cases.
• The Cost of Reporting: Perpetrator Retaliation, Institutional Betrayal, and Student Survivor Pushout

‘Building Partnerships among Law Enforcement Agencies, Colleges and Universities’, White House Report

‘Campus Violence Prevention Resource guides: Creating a Safe Campus Environment Against Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence and Stalking’, published by California Coalition Against Sexual Assault

This PDF is a 31-page guide detailing the statistics and importance of addressing campus sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking, along with information for institutions and individuals about how to handle these crimes on campus.

The Culture of Respect CORE Blueprint Program

The Core Blueprint was designed to engage students, parents, faculty, administrators, health professionals, athletes, and other campus stakeholders in implementing practices and policies that shift the culture to one free from sexual violence

‘Creating Change Together: A Guide for Rape Crisis Centers Partnering with Colleges and Universities’, published by Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence, August 2014

Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting 2016 Edition, US Department of Education

This 265-page document published by the United States Department of Education covers the guidelines for higher education institutions for collecting and reporting data to comply with federal regulations and laws.

Sample Memorandum of Understanding between a University and a Rape Crisis Program/Advocacy Center

This page provides a template for a document outlining an agreement between a college and an organization to form a partnership handling incidents of sexual violence.

SART

This page on the Office for Victims of Crime website provides information for implementing sexual assault response teams.

https://www.ovcttac.gov/saneguide/multidisciplinary-response-and-the-community/

This Office for Victims of Crime website details the benefits and processes for developing and practicing a multidisciplinary approach when responding to sexual assault in the community.

‘The Science of Preventing Sexual Assaults on College Campuses’, Live Science, July 2016

This article provides statistics on college sexual assault, discusses the effectiveness of certain prevention efforts, and theorizes about the reasons behind the prevalence of campus sexual assault.

‘Sexual Violence on Campus: How too many institutions of higher education are failing to protect students’, Report prepared by the US Senate Subcommittee on Financial & Contracting Oversight, July 2014

This 120-page government publication assesses how colleges and universities report, investigate, and adjudicate sexual violence.

SUNY’s Toolkit to Aid Colleges in Building an Online Resource for Students 

This is a list of all sexual assault and rape crisis centers in New York State.

• Trauma Informed Techniques for Campus Police: NYSCASA webinar recording
• Decreasing the Number of Incorrectly ‘Unfounded” Sexual Assault Reports: Battered Women’s Justice Project webinar recording
• FETI Training: End Violence Against Women International provides an array of educational webinars on a variety of subjects pertaining to all forms of violence against women.
• The Forensic Experiential Trauma Interview by Russel W Strand: This 7-page document for the Army Military Police School describes the procedure and benefits of using the Forensic Experiential Trauma Interview (FETI) method when collecting statements from survivors of sexual assault.
• Justice3D : Justice3D is a leading educator in issues related to investigating and prosecuting sexual assault, child abuse, and domestic violence cases.
• Neurobiology of Sexual Assault 2 Part Websites, End Violence Against Women International: This two-part presentation provides a foundation for learning and applying trauma-informed responses while serving survivors of sexual assault.
  • Part 1 explains how fear and trauma can alter brain functioning during sexual assault, resulting in misunderstood behaviors.
  • Part 2 explains how trauma can alter the encoding and storage of memories during a sexual assault.
• You Have Options Program: The You Have Options Program focuses on helping law enforcement organizations to increase the number of victims who report to law enforcement and thoroughly investigate identified offenders for serial perpetration.

The CDC’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey found for LGB people:

• 44 percent of lesbians and 61 percent of bisexual women experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, compared to 35 percent of straight women
• 26 percent of gay men and 37 percent of bisexual men experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, compared to 29 percent of straight men
• 46 percent of bisexual women have been raped, compared to 17 percent of straight women and 13 percent of lesbians
• 22 percent of bisexual women have been raped by an intimate partner, compared to 9 percent of straight women
• 40 percent of gay men and 47 percent of bisexual men have experienced sexual violence other than rape, compared to 21 percent of straight men

Within the LGBTQ community, transgender people and bisexual women face the most alarming rates of sexual violence. Among both of these populations, sexual violence begins early, often during childhood.

• The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found that 47% of transgender people are sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime.
• Among people of color, American Indian (65%), multiracial (59%), Middle Eastern (58%) and Black (53%) respondents of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey were most likely to have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime
• Nearly half (48 percent) of bisexual women who are rape survivors experienced their first rape between ages 11 and 17.

Resources

• Human Rights Campaign: Sexual Assault and the LGBTQ Community
• A Hidden Crisis: Including the LGBT Community When Addressing Sexual Violence on College Campuses
• Title IX Protections for LGBTQ Students
• The Anti-Violence Project– serves LGBTQ and HIV-affected survivors and their communities
• FORGE– serves transgender and gender nonconforming survivors of domestic and sexual violence; provides referrals to local counselors
• The Network La Red– serves LGBTQ, poly, and kink/BDSM survivors of abuse; bilingual
• Northwest Network– serves LGBT survivors of abuse; can provide local referrals
• Let’s Talk About It: A Transgender Survivor’s Guide to Accessing Therapy
• Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals 

• Working with Male Survivors of Sexual Violence: Resource from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center
• ‘Male Survivors of Sexual Assault Speak Out’, The Establishment, January 2016: This blog article details the complexities surrounding male sexual assault, the cultural stereotypes that influence reporting, and what we as a society can do to help.
• ‘Male Victims of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out’, Huffington Post, February 2015: This Huffington Post article recalls specific incidents of male sexual assault on college campuses and uses supporting statistics to make an argument for better support for male survivors of campus sexual assault.

• Reporter’s toolkit: Investigating sexual assault on your campus (The Center for Public Integrity, Nov. 2014): This toolkit serves as an introductory guide on how to investigate the ways colleges deal with sexual assault allegations.
• Reporting on Sexual Violence: Tips for Journalists: A tip sheet from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center
• Writing About Gender-Based Violence and Title IX: A Guide for Journalists and Editors: A guide created by Know Your IX.
• How News is “Framed”: An overview of how news stories, traumatic and otherwise, are “framed,” finding a general absence of context and recommending avenues for future research.
• Use the Right Words: Media Reporting on Sexual Violence in Canada: A comprehensive guide for journalists and reporters on responsibly reporting on sexual violence in Canada, but is applicable for members of the press in the US.

• Sexual assault prevention programs, NASPA: This site provides links and data on a variety of sexual assault prevention programs (30+ included) available:
  • Agent of Change
  • Every Choice
  • Get Inclusive – Title IX and Campus SaVE Module for Employees and Students
  • Haven – Understanding Sexual Assault
  • Not Anymore
  • RealConsent
  • Think About It
  • ThinkLuv
  • U Got This! — Your Guide to Speak Up, Step In, and Create a Better Campus for All
  • He Said – She Said
  • interACT
  • Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP)
  • No is a Complete Sentence
  • No Zebras, No Excuses: Addressing Sexual Aggression and Bystander Behavior
  • SCREAM Theater and SCREAM Athletes
  • Sex Signals
  • Speak About It
  • A Call to Men
  • Bringing in the Bystander®
  • BOUT That Life
  • Green Dot etc.
  • Know Your Power®
  • Integrating Crime Victims’ Issues Into College and University Curricula
  • The Men’s Program
  • Men’s Workshop
  • One Act
  • One Love Escalation Workshop
  • Red Flag Campaign
  • Step Up! (Be a Leader, Make a Difference) Bystander Intervention
  • 20:1
  • The Women’s Program
• BEST Party Model: Shaping Party Environments to Prevent Sexual Violence, Webinar: The Battered Women Justice Project presents a 1.5 hour webinar discussing the link between college parties and sexual assault, including strategies for prevention and education.
• Choosing a Prevention Program for Colleges, Prevent Connect: Prevent Connect presents a web conference helping institutions make decisions about choosing online interpersonal violence prevention modules and ways to implement them.
• “Community Colleges: Opportunities for Sexual and Domestic Violence Prevention” PowerPoint: This Prevent Connect Powerpoint presentation focuses on the best strategies to combat and prevent sexual assault on community college campuses.
  • Presentation Recording: This Prevent Connect audio recording accompanies the presentation focusing on the best strategies to combat and prevent sexual assault on community college campuses.
• Informing Students about Campus Polices and Resources: How They Get the Message Matters, Prevention Innovations Research Center, University of New Hampshire: This research study from the Prevention Innovations Research Center of the University of New Hampshire examines the efficacy of different methods of teaching sexual misconduct policy to first year students.

• Getting Started on Campus: Tips for New Prevention Coordinators: This 8-page government publication is intended to simplify, organize, and provide a context for the information and resources sexual assault prevention coordinators need for successful programs on their campus.
• Enough is Enough Prevention Program List: This list was developed by the Enough is Enough Think Tank to provide the programs with a list of sexual assault prevention programs that are suitable for campus populations and meet a certain level of evidence deemed acceptable by the Think Tank. The New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault convened the Enough is Enough Think Tank, which is comprised of representatives from the Department of Health Bureau of Women, Infant and Adolescent Health (BWIAH), The New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault, The New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, a sexual assault prevention researcher, and an Enough is Enough Program.
• Interview with Indiana Campus Sexual Assault Primary Prevention Project: In this audio interview the PreventConnect Podcast focuses on the use of communication to prevention violence on campus.
• Sexual Violence on Campus: Strategies for Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: This PDF is from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control’s 2016 report on the best strategies to prevent campus sexual assault.
• Sample Prevention Toolkits:
• • Sexual Violence Prevention: An Athletics Tool Kit for a Healthy and Safe Culture – Second Edition
  • Sexual Assault Awareness & Prevention Toolkit

• Get 24/7 help from NYSCASA’s member rape crisis programs: This link provides information regarding rape crisis programs organized by county.
• Database of off-campus resources: This list includes all locations in New York State providing sexual assault and rape crisis services.
• List of New York State regional and statewide resources: This SUNY site provides resources and information regarding rape crisis centers, reporting, and policies.

‘Self-Care and Social Justice Work’, The Body is Not an Apology, April 2015

This blog article discusses the importance of self care as to avoid burn out.

‘Tips for Survivors on Consuming Media’, RAINN

This article gives tips for survivors on how to deal with triggers when consuming media in print, on television, and online.

A Toolkit for Survivors During COVID-19

Survivors of sexual assault are experiencing the deep impact of this moment in ways we could never have imagined. Those of us in abusive situations and those who are seeking therapy are struggling to get the support they need. Conditions that were already challenging are now exacerbated, and the needs of sexual assault survivors are being left out of the national dialogue in more ways than one. Click here to access A Toolkit for Survivors During COVID-19, created by the ‘me too.’ Movement.

Who Do I Tell? How Do I Tell? Toolkit

For individuals who have experienced or know someone who has experienced sexual assault, this toolkit provides question prompts and tips for deciding who to disclose to, and how. Click here to access the toolkit, created by the ‘me too.’ Movement.

Coping with Triggers

A “trigger” is a trauma reminder. It can be a feeling, a smell, a place, a topic, anything that engages our nervous system and prompts a survival response. It is a surprise emotion, a memory that our body holds, one that may feel like it comes out of nowhere. Click here to access the Coping with Triggers toolkit, created by the ‘me too.’ Movement.

Healing Justice Practice Spaces Toolkit

This “how-to” guide from Autumn Brown & Maryse Mitchell-Brody explains how to create an intentional healing justice practice space. The authors offer that a Healing Justice Practice Space (HJPS) is an all-gender, all-bodied, inclusive and accessible space for practicing and receiving healing that is built in partnership with social justice movement work and sites of political action. These spaces typically offer a wide variety of health and healing services, including (but not limited to) first aid, counseling and crisis support, mediation services, massage therapy, acupuncture, energy work, herbal therapy, divination, art therapy, nutritional counseling, and yoga. This thoughtful guide walks through the what, the who, and the how so that you might create your own HJPS within your community. Click here to access the toolkit, created by the ‘me too.’ Movement.

Books to Support Healing from Sexual Violence

Healing Honestly recently put together a list of books to support survivors’ healing from sexual violence. NYSCASA has sent some of these books to member rape crisis programs, including Love WITH Accountability: Digging Up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse, Queering Sexual Violence: Radical Voices from Within the Anti-Violence Movement, and Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good. Check out the full book list here.

Grounding and Self-Soothing Techniques

There are a great number of tools and resources to assist survivors with grounding and self-soothing as they move through their healing journey. Here are some resources recommended by NYSCASA staff:

• 10 Grounding Skills to Help Cope with Flashbacks Related to Trauma
• Grounding Techniques & Self Soothing for Emotional Regulation
• Guided Meditation for PTSD
• Mind-Body Practices for Post-Traumatic Stress
• What Is Tapping and How Can I Start Using It to Reduce Stress?
• Guided Resonant Breathing: Coherent Breathing with Dr Richard Brown & Patricia Gerbarg MD
• How Progressive Muscle Relaxation Can Help People with PTSD

• Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Toolkit (National Violence Resource Center, 2018)
• Best Practices in the Criminal Justice Response to Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault: Guidance for CCR/SART Response Protocols: This protocol was developed by the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence. It includes protocol best practices for sexual assault and domestic violence responses.
• Generic Sample MOU: This is a sample generic MOU for a SART team, which you can use between agencies (SAFE TA)

International toll free crisis hot line: 866-USWOMEN

A 24/7 live chat on their website: www.866uswomen.org

There is also a crisis email: [email protected]

• PACT 5 Documentaries from Students: PACT5 is a grassroots movement dedicated to stopping campus sexual assault. College students and faculty work together to present documentaries highlighting issues surrounding campus sexual assault.
• Resources for student survivors and activists (Know Your IX)
• Resources on reporting violence and harassment as a student survivor (Know Your IX)
• State Policy Playbook: key reforms that students, advocates, and state policymakers can pursue to support survivors on campus, keep students safe, and end gender-based violence in school. (Know Your IX)
• Bring Know Your IX to your campus
• Know Your IX: Join the movement
• The 6 C’s of Becoming a Survivor Advocate Workbook and Video (International Institute of Buffalo, in partnership with The Survivor Alliance and Freedom Network USA)
• Student Survivor Toolkit: A comprehensive guide that has resources for the Title IX process, survivor-centered self-care practices, advice for Muslim and LGBTQ+ survivors, and more. Created by Advocates for Youth.