Current efforts - The University of Tulsa
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Current efforts

In order to facilitate the university’s goal of promoting healthy relationships through communication and education, and working toward the elimination of violence on this campus, a variety of active and passive methods of prevention programming are available to the TU community.

Advocacy Alliance: Learn more about the initiatives and programs of the Advocacy Alliance, TU’s primary programming arm of the university’s sexual violence prevention and education initiatives.

Current efforts: View current efforts on campus to prevent sexual violence as well as encourage campus reporting. Efforts include social media, poster campaigns, in-person programs and trainings, and online trainings.

Get involved: There are many ways to get involved in our efforts to provide support for survivors of sexual violence as well as in education around the elimination of sexual violence in our community.

Get informed: In addition to information provided on other pages, this page offers information for learning more about sexual violence and prevention efforts. Definitions of relevant concepts and terms are included on this page, as well as information about training programs available for students, faculty, and staff.


This project was supported by Grant No. _2016-WA-AX-0007__ awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.

  • Do Not Cancel That Class

    If a professor is going to need to miss class due to an emergency and they would like the Violence Prevention Program Coordinator, another Advocacy Alliance member, or our Survivor Advocate to come speak to their class all they need to do is email kelsey-hancock@utulsa.edu so that we can check for available trainers and get the speaker scheduled. It is helpful for us to know how many students are in your class and how much time we will have to speak with the students. It is also important that we have as much advance notice as possible. Since all of our programming is provided on a volunteer basis we need as much time as possible to get trainers scheduled.

    We can do activities from any of the programs that we offer and we like to meet students where they are in their development. To that end we are open to discussing what the professor believes their students might be ready for and what might be most helpful for their students. We do workshops on consent, healthy relationships, receiving a disclosure of interpersonal violence, the reporting process, Safe Zones, and resource Q&A sessions. We also have multiple iterations of our Bringing in the Bystander training. We have 45, 60, and 90 minute versions. We also have a 4 hour training where students can become Bringing in the Bystander trainers to help disseminate this knowledge to the rest of campus though we understand that this may not be applicable to many classes.

  • Programs offered by the Office of Violence Prevention

    Safe Zone Program: The mission of this program is to provide a network of safe and supportive allies to the LGBTQ+ community. This program educates individuals on vernacular and terminology that is respectful and supportive of students with LGBTQ+ identities.

    Bringing in the Bystander: This program is evidence-based and developed by researchers at the University of New Hampshire who specialize in sexual assault prevention. This program is offered at various times during the year to anyone wishing to participate. Resident Assistants and Orientation Leaders are trained in this program on a yearly basis. In the Spring of 2017 the Advocacy Alliance offered 16 Bringing in the Bystander programs to students, advertised through flyers around campus based on a sign up to attend system. There are multiple trainings that we offer for Bringing in the Bystander. We have 45, 60, and 90 minute versions. We also have a 4 hour training where students can become Bringing in the Bystander trainers to help disseminate this knowledge to the rest of campus.

    Healthy Relationships and Consent Workshops: These workshops are provided during new student orientation, but can also be tailored to a discussion style format for students on campus who want more training at later times. The Advocacy Alliance, listed below, works with student groups to decide what programming approach would be most helpful for them. These programs are designed to meet students where they are, to answer questions for them concerning red flags in relationships, how to foster effective communication, and what consent looks like in their respective relationships.

    Reporting and Disclosure Training: This training is designed to help students, staff, faculty, and administrators understand their resources and responsibilities on campus and off campus. Trainees complete this training with the framework of understanding how to accept a disclosure of interpersonal violence, where to report that information, and who is helpful to contact with this kind of information. Trainees are also provided with resource sheets to keep with them that contain information from the training that they can rely on when necessary.

    Know Your IX: This program raises awareness on what Title IX is, what the reporting process is, and what resources we can provide to the TU Community. This program can also be tailored to fit the needs of the person or organization requesting it in that it can be presentation or discussion based or a combination of both. Often, the Q & A portion of this program is the most enlightening because it offers TU students, faculty, and staff to ask questions in an open format with a live campus expert.

    The Clothesline Project: This event brings awareness to the number of victims and survivors, and the violence they have experienced.  They display messages written by those individuals, and anyone affected by interpersonal violence, on a clothesline that is displayed at the University for a certain number of days every October (also recognized as Domestic Violence Awareness Month). Resources are provided at the exhibit site, and there is always a member of the Advocacy Alliance there to answer questions. Student groups who wish to host a shirt decoration event can contact Kelsey Hancock for more information.

    Office on Violence Against Women Grant, additional staff: The University recently was awarded a DOJ grant to reduce incidences of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on campus. The 3 year grant provided funds to hire a Violence Prevention  and Education Coordinator, a graduate from the University of Tulsa from the Clinical Psychology Master’s Program, Kelsey Hancock. The grant funds have also been used to hire a Survivor Advocate. The responsibilities of these positions include developing additional educational programming and training for TU students, faculty, staff, and administration. The grant also calls for the establishment of a university-wide Coordinated Community Response Team. This team will assist with fulfilling grant requirements included assessment, development, and implementation of educational programs and coordinated campus communication regarding interpersonal violence.

    Advocacy Alliance: An interdisciplinary, interdepartmental committee, which seeks to prevent and intervene with interpersonal violence on the TU campus. In 2012, the Alliance overhauled its goals and vision for the committee to stay in line with current best practices around sexual violence prevention and education. The Alliance is composed of individuals from several different programs and departments: The Dean of Student’s Office, The University of Tulsa Institute for Trauma, Adversity, and Injustice, The Office of Student Affairs, Athletics, Campus Security, Counseling Center, Housing, Alexander Health Center, Office of Violence Prevention, various faculty members, and two student representatives.

    iStand: This Facebook campaign is designed to raise awareness of sexual violence by linking articles about sexual violence and other forms of interpersonal violence, providing resources to pages where students may go to read about and inform themselves of what the new research is and what is happening on larger scale around the U.S. and in the world.

    The Student Alliance for Violence Education (S.A.V.E.): The Student Alliance for Violence Education is a student group that organizes educational programming for the campus community. Beginning in 2014 SAVE has hosted numerous events every year with 2017 being the group’s most active year to date. Each yeah SAVE partners with different groups on campus to host the Vagina Monologues to fundraise for our community partner Domestic Violence Intervention Services of Tulsa. The group also helps to staff the Clothesline Project and a number of its members are student trainers for our Bringing in the Bystander program.

    For more information on any of our programs or to schedule a program email kelsey-hancock@utulsa.edu