Dartmouth College has started a new project that aims to tackle the abuse of power and sexual violence on campus, the school said in a release.
The Sexual Violence Prevention Project (SVPP) seeks to address high-risk behavior among undergraduates by creating a positive behavior through four-year prevention and education experience.
The project is designed to develop skills that will support those who have experienced harm in different forms, intervene to prevent harm, develop positive relationships and sexual behaviors, and understand power and privilege.
Students enrolled during the current academic year are the first one’s to participate in the project, which will continue throughout their course.
“We want all students to arrive on campus with a common frame of reference,” Childress says. “And we want the ’23s to know that they are coming into a community that cares about their success and their well-being,” said Amanda Childress, associate director of the Student Wellness Center.
The project is part of the Moving Dartmouth Forward (MDF) initiative, which aims at increasing inclusivity and eliminating high-risk behavior.
The campus Student Wellness Center Is planning to work on extending the project programming into the sophomore-, junior-, and senior-year experience.
The initiative comes months after seven current and former psychology students sued the college for allowing a culture of “sexual assault, harassment, and discrimination” to take place by three professors from within the department of psychological and brain sciences.
The suit alleged professors Todd Heatherton, William Kelley and Paul Whalen of promoting a drinking culture among students, often forcing students to attend lab meetings at bars, making inappropriate advances towards women and often threatening them with retaliation if they did not comply.
Last month the college settled the lawsuit for $14 million and agreed to launch various programs under the Campus Climate and Culture Initiative to identify and rectify current issues and prevent problems in the future.
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