Hats off to Monroe County, Indiana and Indiana University for implementing new sexual assault prevention initiatives and sexual-assault based medical services. University reps, local government, law enforcement, and meducal providers have joined forces to create SART, the Sexual Assault Response Team. The SART initiative will include: a new Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program at Bloomington Hospital; training for police officers in how to respond to sexual assault; the hiring of a special prosecutor focused on sex crimes; and a public education campaign focused on “only yes means yes” messaging about consent.

It in unclear if the SART has any effect in IU’s actual assault policy (although there is now an established protocol once an assault is reported), but the thoughts coming from IU administrators are encouraging. It is especially nice to hear alcohol mentioned in this context (as opposed to as an explanation for why women “find themselves” being assaulted):

Dee Owens with the IU Alcohol and Drug Information Center agrees that education is a key prevention strategy. “A majority of these cases involve high blood-alcohol levels,” she said. “No one can give consent unless conscious and aware. Students who use alcohol or other drugs to obtain sex must understand these actions are criminal and endanger their status at IU.”

Amen.

At Tulane University, a new program (mandatory for all new students) will focus on bystander training, and “covers issues of stalking, harassment, intimate partner violence, the ‘rape myth’ culture, sexual assault and sexual aggression.” The programmers have been using a quirky messaging campaign for the new programs:

The first week back to school can be a bit chaotic. If it seems any more circus-like this year, it’s probably attributable to the addition of “zebras” on campus. Students, faculty and staff members walking across the Tulane uptown campus and eating in Bruff Commons today (Aug. 26) are likely to spot plastic, inflated zebras and students in zebra costumes to promote a new program against gender violence.

The uncommon promotion is part of the guerilla marketing campaign to promote “No Zebras, No Excuses — Being the Change”…

Zebras are known to be bystanders; in the wild, a herd will run from an attacking lion until one is chosen as the prey. Then, the other zebras will return to their normal activities, explains Erica Woodley, assistant dean of students.

“What makes this program different is that it calls upon every member of the university community to ensure that there are ‘no zebras,’” she says.

Elsewhere on the internet, Renee of Womanist Musings has been doing a lot of amazing rape and assault-related writing in the past couple of weeks and I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of her great work. There was an interesting post on Thomas Jefferson and the dishonest implications of the use of the term “love affair” to describe his relationship with Sally Hemmings. She also took on Stephen Moyer of True Blood for the rather revolting comments he made about sexuality and rape. Currently she has an illuminating post on “corrective rape” (raping a lesbian to “convince her of her true orientation”) up at Global Comment.