The University Students’ Council (USC) is partnering with local support agencies to launch a public education and awareness campaign to address sexual violence on campus.
Will Bortolin, Vice- President Campus Issues for the University Students’ Council, highlights the importance of creating a safe campus as Tim Kelly, Executive Director of Changing Ways looks on. Changing Ways, a local agency supporting abusive men, and the Sexual Assault Centre London have partnered with the USC on a campaign supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
The USC, along with the Sexual Assault Centre London and Changing Ways, a local agency supporting abusive or violent men, was granted $118,000 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation for the campaign.
The partners received a two-year grant to implement a campaign challenging male and female students to increase their awareness and involvement in reducing incidents of sexual violence.
The project will roll out in two phases. The first year involves research into the issues on campus and developing the campaign objectives and strategic marketing approaches for the campaign. A campus-wide marketing campaign is expected to roll out in the fall.
“We are really approaching it as a collective, community effort to make the campus safer and not singling out certain people who we think are at-risk,” says Will Bortolin, Vice-President Campus Issues for the USC.
In 2009, the Western Campus Community Police Service responded to two incidents involving alleged sexual assault.
“It’s very exciting to be part of something that hopefully when you look back, you find it as an example of something that started to change attitudes across the university and make it a safer place.”
The idea for the campaign “came out of a desire to be more focused on work we do around this campus,” says Tim Kelly, Changing Ways Executive Director, noting he wants to encourage men to take an active role in preventing women’s abuse.
London North Centre MPP Deb Matthews calls the initiative “transformative.”
“We all have a role to play when it comes to violence against women,” she says. “I’m really looking forward to the results that we get from this initiative.”
“We have the ability to make a difference on this campus,” adds Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley. “This is not just about women taking steps to keep themselves safe. This is about men taking ownership of the attitudes that make them (women) take the steps to keep themselves safe. We all have the ability to make that change.”
The campaign will serve as a guide for college and university campuses across the province, notes Ontario Trillium Foundation representative Ted Lo.
“This grant is an investment not only in the health of the student community here at Western; it also helps aid the development of a culture of respect and responsibility across a whole campus,” he says.