Bring Me Courage: Empowering Student Voices to Reduce Sexual Assault and Harassment Reporting Barriers and Influence Culture
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58315/jcld.v11.276Keywords:
Culture, Sexual Assault, Harassment, Barrier, ReportingAbstract
Sexual assault and harassment on college campus, particularly military service academies, is a complex problem requiring student-led culture change. Efforts of the top-down campus administrator to change culture will be ineffective without student buy-in and input. Listening to student voices is necessary to identify barriers and paths to enable behaviors on the peripherals that reinforce desired culture traits. This article highlights a student-led effort at the U.S. Air Force Academy to reduce reporting barriers by disincentivizing peer pressure to remain silent in the face of harassment, bullying, hazing, or assault.
Downloads
References
Association of American Universities (AAU). (2019). AAU campus climate survey. https://www.aau.edu/sites/default/files/AAU-Files/Key-Issues/Campus-Safety/Revised%20Aggregate%20report%20%20and%20appendices%201-7_(01-16-2020_FINAL).pdf
Basile, K. C., DeGue, S., Jones, K., Freire, K., Dills, J., Smith, S. G., & Raiford, J. L. (2016). STOP SV: A technical package to prevent sexual violence. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/sv-prevention-technical-package.pdf
Bayard de Volo, L., & Hall, L. (2015). ‘I wish all the ladies were holes in the road’: The US Air Force Academy and the gendered continuum of violence. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 40(4), 865–889. https://doi.org/10.1086/680328
Berger, J. (2019). Unlocking leadership mindtraps: How to thrive in complexity. Stanford University Press.
Callahan, J. (2009). Manifestations of power and control: Training as the catalyst for scandal at the United States Air Force Academy. Violence Against Women, 15(10), 1149–1168. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801209344341
Chamberlain, L., et al. (2008). Sexual harassment in organizational context. Work and Occupations, 35(3), 262–295. https://doi.org/10.1177/0730888408322008
Coleman, P. (2011). The five percent: Finding solutions to seemingly impossible conflicts. Public Affairs.
Cook, A., Glass, C., & Ingersoll, A. (2023). Institutional predictors of campus sexual misconduct reporting: The role of gender in leadership. Studies in Higher Education, 48(7), 963–981. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2023.2174096
Coulter, R., & Rankin, S. (2020). College sexual assault and campus climate for sexual-and gender-minority undergraduate students. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(5–6), 1351–1366. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517696870
Davis, E., & Klahr, A. M. (2023). 2022 service academy gender relations survey: Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security Results and Trends. Retrieved from https://www.opa.mil/research-analysis/health-well-being/gender-relations/2022-service-academy-gender-relations-survey/2022-service-academy-gender-relations-survey-department-of-defense-and-department-of-homeland-security-results-and-trends/
Department of Defense (DoD). Annual report on sexual harassment and violence at military service academies for ay 2005-2006. Retrieved from https://www.sapr.mil/public/docs/reports/APY_05-06_MSA_Report.pdf
Department of Defense (DoD). Annual report on sexual harassment and violence at military service academies for ay 2008-2009. Retrieved from https://www.sapr.mil/public/docs/reports/2009_msa_report.pdf
Department of Defense (DoD). (2022). Annual report on sexual harassment and violence at military service academies for AY21-22 (“DoD Annual Report”). https://www.sapr.mil/sites/default/files/public/docs/reports/MSA/DOD_Annual_Report_on_Sexual_Harassment_and_Violence_at_MSAs_APY21-22.pdf
Department of the Air Force Washington DC. (2003). The report of the working group concerning the deterrence of and response to incidents of sexual assault at the US Air Force Academy (“Fowler Report”). https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA488305.pdf
Docherty, J., & Leonard, L. (2013). Adapting to the adaptive: How can we teach negotiation for wicked problems. Educating Negotiators for a Connected World, 4, 383–418.
Giddens, A. (1979). Central problems in social theory: Action, structure and contradiction in social analysis. University of California Press.
Gneezy, U., Meier, S., & Rey-Biel, P. (2011). When and why incentives (don’t) work to modify behavior. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(4), 191–210. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.25.4.191
Goodmark, L. (2021). Reimagining VAWA: Why criminalization is a failed policy and what a non-carceral VAWA could look like. Violence Against Women, 27(1), 84–101. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801220949686
Hinojosa, R. (2010). Doing hegemony: Military, men, and constructing a hegemonic masculinity. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 18(2), 179–194. https://doi.org/10.3149/jms.1802.179
Kettrey, H. H., Thompson, M. P., Marx, R. A., & Davis, A. J. (2023). Effects of campus sexual assault prevention programs on attitudes and behaviors among American college students: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Adolescent Health, 72(6), 831–844. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.02.022
Kezar, A., & Eckels, P. D. (2002). The effect of institutional culture on change strategies in higher education. The Journal of Higher Education, 73, 435–460. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2002.11777159
Kirkpatrick, C., & Kanin, E. (1957). Male sex aggression on a university campus. American Sociological Review, 22(1), 52–58. https://doi.org/10.2307/2088765
Lawrence, D. (2023, March 13). Pentagon chief orders reforms and service academies after damning sexual assault report. Military.com. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/03/13/pentagon-chief-orders-reforms-service-academies-after-damning-sexual-assault-report.html
Manual for Courts-Martial (“MCM”). (2024). United States, Appendix 2.1 (Oct. 25, 2023). https://jsc.defense.gov/Portals/99/2024%20MCM%20files/Non-binding%20disposition%20guidance%2010-24-2023.pdf?ver=aQhLnsvjdo03G08QcJCj_Q%3d%3d
Morgan, P., & Gruber, J. E. (2011). Sexual harassment: Violence against women at work and in schools. In Renzetti C. M., Edleson J. L., & Bergen, R. K. (Eds.), Sourcebook on violence against women (2nd ed., pp. 75–94). Routledge.
Moylan, C. A., & Javorka, M. (2020). Widening the lens: An ecological review of campus sexual assault. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 21(1), 179–192. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838018756121
Moylan, C. A., Javorka, M., Bybee, D., Stotzer, R. L., & Carlson, M. (2019). Campus-level variation in the prevalence of student experiences of sexual assault and intimate partner violence. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 10(3), 397–421. https://doi.org/10.1086/704543
Office of People Analytics 2022 Service Academy Gender Relations Survey (“SAGR”). (2022). https://www.sapr.mil/sites/default/files/public/docs/reports/MSA/Appendix_G_OPA_2022_Academy_Gender_Relations_Survey_MSA_APY21-22.pdf
Rankin, S., & Reason, R. (2008). Transformational tapestry model: A comprehensive approach to transforming campus climate. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 1(4), 262–274. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014018
Rowley, L. L., Hurtado, S., & Panjuan, L. (2002, April). Organizational rhetoric or reality? The disparities between avowed commitment to diversity and formal programs and initiatives in higher education institutions. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.
Simsek, H., & Seashore Louis, K. (1994). Organizational change as paradigm shift: Analysis of the change process in a large, public university. The Journal of Higher Education, 65, 670–695. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.1994.11774746
Stiehm, J. (1981). Bring me men and women: Mandated change at the US Air Force Academy. University of California Press.
Undersecretary of Defense Memorandum. (2021, October 25). Safe-to-report policy for servicemember victims of sexual assault. Retrieved from https://www.sapr.mil/sites/default/files/Safe_to_Report_Guidance_for_Issuing_Services_and_NGB_Policies_Sec539A_NDAA_FY2021_Reference_Copy.pdf
Warshaw, R. (1994). I never called it rape. HarperCollins.
White House. (2014, April). Not alone: The first report of the white house task force to protect students from sexual assault. WhiteHouse.gov. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/1is2many/notalone
Wilkins, N., Tsao, B., Hertz, M., Davis, R., Klevens, J. (2014). Connecting the Dots: An Overview of the Links Among Multiple Forms of Violence. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Oakland, CA: Prevention Institute.
Wolfendale, J. (2021). Military sexual assault is a moral injury. War on the Rocks, Texas National Security Review. https://warontherocks.com/2021/05/the-military-justice-improvement-act-and-the-moral-duty-owed-to-sexual-assault-victims/
Published
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Taren E. Wellman
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors contributing to Journal of Character & Leadership Development agree to publish their articles under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 License. Authors retain copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to the JCLD.