April is Sexual Assault and Violence Awareness Month, and many Villanova offices and on-campus organizations strive to educate students, staff and community members on the importance of resources, prevention and signs both on and off-campus. Throughout the month, organizations such as POWER (Peers Offering Wellness Education and Resources) and SAPA (Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness) are working with the University’s Title IX office to sponsor and host events regarding sexual assault prevention and awareness.
On April 2, resources and organizations from on and off-campus, such as the Delaware County Victim Assistance Center, the Domestic Abuse Project of Delaware County, the University Title IX Office, Thrive 365, the University SARC Team, SAPA, POWER, Public Safety and It’s On Us NOVA, co-hosted the Sexual Assault Awareness Month Day of Action. Students had the opportunity to speak with prevention partners, creating individual plans of action, leaving notes for survivors and learning more about campus resources and resources within the greater community outside of campus.
“Our role at the event was sharing resources and doing engagement activities,” junior Aly Sivinski, event coordinator for SAPA, said. “We asked students how the environment of sexual assault is felt on campus. Students could write their thoughts and submit them to us, and we also had a spot where people could leave notes for survivors. I loved how there were a variety of both on and off-campus resources and organizations there to provide resources that not all students or community members might know about.”
Day of Action allowed students to talk about sexual assault prevention and resources offered on and off-campus that are not widely known about.
Ryan Rost, director of the Title IX Office, shared about the resources her office provides.
“The Title IX office is important and we want to be perceived – and we are – a resource office for anyone who was affected by sexual violence, no matter where or when it occurred,” Rost said. “We offer and connect students with emotional support, academic support and we help provide options for resolution. We can issue no contact orders between community orders and we do these things regardless of any next steps individuals decide to take. No matter if they do or do not choose to move forward in the process. We are working with a good percentage of people whose experiences did not fall under Villanova’s jurisdiction, but we will and do still provide these people with resources and any help that we can.”
In recent years, the percentage of sexual assault and violence cases on Villanova’s campus has increased, yet so has awareness on how to report these actions and spot them within the community. SAPA, which officially came to campus in the Spring of 2023 has helped significantly with educating students and the Villanova community on these resources.
Junior Hope Frantz, the President of SAPA spoke of her experience.
“My freshman year, I remember coming to Villanova and hearing about a lot of different reports of sexual assaults happening on and around campus,” Frantz said. “It can be very disheartening as a freshman to hear that your new home is in an unsafe place. A lot of my friends and I came together, as we wanted to be a support system for each other, and other students on campus who wanted and needed these resources.”
Through events such as the Day of Action, these organizations are aiming to break the stigma regarding discussing and talking about sexual assault and violence, and encouraging educating individuals on prevention, in order to stop these harmful behaviors at an earlier stage.
“There is always room for growth,” Rost said. “We want to promote culture change in the culture at Villanova, where people are identifying harmful situations before they escalate. We just revamped the bystander training, which many organizations require students partake in on campus, and now we have started to show early warning signs, and I think that is where real room for change can happen. Calling people out for problematic actions or culture. That is where the real room for growth is, where we call out members for this harmful behavior and that we are preventing instead of promoting it.”
Throughout this month, there will be a variety of additional events hosted to further share the mission of education and prevention on campus, including the Sexual Assault Response Panel on April 16, Paint it Back on April 19, ‘She Said’ film screening on April 25 and Trauma Informed Yoga on April 30. For more information regarding these events and resources provided on campus, one can follow SAPA on Instagram @villanovasapa and refer to the Title IX office website.
