DePauw University faced multiple racial bias incidents recently. The events shook the DePauw community who came together against hate speech while we saw protests, demands proposed to the administration, and community gatherings across campus. As a student at DePauw, I appreciated the University’s response by addressing to demands and checking on minority groups by various means.
However, the demands being met might bring relief to the minority groups on campus, but would they really make sure such events don’t occur again? Moreover, is there really a way where we could prevent these incidents from happening again and trace back to the individuals who cause them?
DePauw’s campus is close knit and socially active. Greek life is a prominent factor and the campus environment in general affects individuals greatly. In the past, due to a great increase in binge drinking on campus and increased sexual assault cases, Greek chapters started taking more responsibility during their social events.
Understanding the need of the hour, the DePauw Student Government (DSG) came up with a program called CATS where individuals who undergo Training and Intervention Procedures for Students (TIPS) and CATS training monitor social events for incidents related to alcohol. The success of this program is acclaimed by the office of alcohol initiatives since more students getting TIPS training are encouraged to join the program. The program offers financial incentives by paying on an hourly basis.
Racial bias incidents can be more hurtful and devastating to the student body if hate speech is verbal or acts of physical harm occur rather than written in restrooms. The probability of such incidents occurring naturally multiplies during social events like parties. The effects of events can be overwhelming to the people present, and at this point, bystander intervention becomes necessary.
It would be preferable to have individuals present during parties, just like CATS, to watch out for incidents of racial bias or sexual assault. These individuals could act as witnesses of the incident, report them and intervene when necessary to make sure the victim is safe.
This program would be of use to the campus since anyone who plans on creating unrest could have someone watch and report them. Like CATS, such a program would be run by DSG and students could be a part of it in return for a small stipend. The nature of this duty is such that it would require training.
Fortunately, on campus we already have the ‘Green Dot’ program that promotes and educates about responsible bystander intervention. To be a part of the program, ‘Green Dot’ training would be a requirement and Greek chapters could request for individuals during major events. Hence, we could make our campus a safer and more accepting place.
Even though the purposes of these programs are to look out for any unfortunate incidents, we must continue to educate ourselves and those around us and reiterate the idea of self-development to ourselves so the ideas of racial discrimination and hatred are eradicated from society.