Bystander intervention. When you first hear it, it sounds like an intimidating topic. But however taboo or daunting it may seem, it's something we can't avoid talking about at DePauw.
Let's face it: when you couple an active party / binge drinking culture and hookup culture with the easily-accessed social venue for these activities that greek houses provide, there are going to be some "blurred lines," so to speak. DePauw's administration has done a stellar job the past couple of years to bring issues of discrimination, sexual assault and hate crimes to the forefront of campus dialogue.
Specifically, in the last year or so, thanks to a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, we've been able to implement a bystander intervention program through the Violence Intervention Program (VIP) headed by Jeanette Johnson-Licon. The VIP brought in Dr. Alan Berkowitz who has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the Los Angeles area to speak to both students and faculty / staff this week on bystander intervention. Berkowitz specializes in couples counseling and relationship conflict, therapy for anxiety and depression, and addiction counseling.
As a close friend of the victim of the hate crime committed on Halloween night at DePauw in 2011 and a rape survivor, I understand personally the importance of bystander intervention. I was there that night when people were just standing around when my friend got thrown out of a party, verbally harassed for his gender performance and sexual orientation and was literally forced to crawl out of a fraternity house to safety. What were those watching thinking? Did someone intervene? Did anyone want to intervene? Were they too scared to speak up? How did this incident make other potential victims feel in this social situation? We'll never know; what's done is done. But I can't help but wonder how situations like that could be alleviated by a secure and internalized knowledge and practice of bystander intervention.
Berkowitz's talk focused on a more clearly organized strategy to bystander intervention than someone who has not be trained professionally in this line of work, such as us students, could put together. He presents stages of bystander behavior in four steps: "Notice the event. Interpret it as a problem. Feel responsible for dealing with it. Have the necessary skills to act."
Berkowitz said that a passive bystander is someone who 'stands by' and does not do anything when they notice a problematic situation or behavior even though they may find the behavior to be problematic. For almost all health and social justice problems there are bystanders. Also, individuals can be taught to overcome their inhibitions to intervene and learn skills to do so effectively, and most people underestimate the willingness of their peers to be part of the solution. Bystanders who act have the ability to create an inhospitable climate for risk behaviors and their perpetrators and to intervene to prevent harm.
Berkowitz provides four overall strategies for dealing with bystander intervention. One is to develop mutually reinforcing, synergistic programs to foster a comprehensive environment of change. However, one intervention alone or disconnected interventions will not change the climate sufficiently enough to reduce problems. Also, interventions must be culturally appropriate and tailored to the community. And finally, we must engage leaders to foster healthy norms and model desired behaviors.
Berkowitz's information is highly relevant to our campus climate, and, though academic, it can be applied to daily situations on campus - whether it be a kegger at a fraternity house, non gender-conforming dress / presentation, a racist remark or a passed out first-year female in a dormitory hall. All of these situations can be handled in a safe, productive and synergistic manner by implementing tactics of bystander intervention.
-Delcambre is a senior vocal performance and Women's Studies major from Greensboro, N.C.