USC’s Office of Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention and Prevention is offering more training opportunities this fall to further advocate for a safe Carolina community. The Stand Up Carolina initiative, a program looking to educate on the importance of intervening in potentially dangerous situations, is the center of the project.
Stand Up Carolina is a program offered to the entire USC community that teaches what it means to be an active and accountable bystander. The effort began in 2011, but experienced a re-launch during the 2015-2016 school year. There are two different versions offered to students, faculty and staff.
One version of Stand Up Carolina is a 50-75 minute presentation offered to U101 classes. Stand Up Carolina will be making an appearance in 30 different sections of U101 this fall.
Stand Up uses data from Haven, the online sexual assault prevention program that must be completed by all incoming students. Presentations incorporate this data into group activities and skill application exercises.
“We recognize that there are situations where it's unsafe or someone just may not feel comfortable stepping in, so we teach four different types of bystander intervention and they're not all direct,” said Shannon Nix, associate director of Stand Up Carolina.
The second version of the Stand Up Carolina initiative is two hours long and focuses on a dialogue between the audience and the facilitator. This includes a discussion of the culture at USC and how social norms shape that culture.
“We want to help the community understand that again our norms shape our culture so we want, for this, our norm to be that we help each other out. If you see something happening you say or you do something,” Nix said.
Stand Up Carolina also offers a “Train the Facilitator” program. Last year, Stand Up Carolina received a grant from the Avon Foundation to further train students, faculty and staff to be active and accountable bystanders.
Nix compared the training to that of Safe Zone, the LGBTQ ally program. Facilitators will be able to lead Stand Up Carolina presentations for organizations as well as U101 classes.
“We want to train, get the community involved and have them facilitating and delivering," she said. "We have peer leaders who give our presentations in U101 and a lot of times students are going to relate more to someone who looks like them, who is their age.”
The SAVIP office tends to focus on interpersonal violence, which is defined as sexual assault, intimate partner violence, stalking and harassment. Stand Up Carolina is meant to apply to all dangerous situations.
“That's again that broad focus. It's not just interpersonal violence related. I call it just being a good human being. Really, that’s what we want to embed ... in our University culture," Nix said. "Where we see people helping each other and not avoiding or ignoring situations. Helping them be able to prevent things from happening. Harm from coming to their fellow Gamecocks.”
Stand Up Carolina will also be hosting their eighth annual Hero Awards in March of 2017. This award banquet honors the active and accountable bystanders within the Carolina community. Nominations are due March 1, 2017.
To become involved in Stand Up Carolina, members of the USC community can contact the SAVIP office to sign up for a Stand Up Carolina training session. Dates for training sessions can also be found on the Student Health Services events calendar.