Winter 2019 Edition
Alumni & Friends Magazine
As a Bobcat community, weve been known to have each others backs.
But in situations of sexual assault, violence, or hate, it can sometimes be unclear how to best help one anotherwhich is why practicing bystander intervention techniques can help us to become better citizens both on and off campus.
Students can do this by looking inward at their social circles, or drinking families, suggests Thomas Vander Ven, a sociology professor at 窪蹋勛圖.
In his book, Getting Wasted: Why College Students Drink Too Much and Party So Hard, Vander Ven explores how friend groups form unique social practices to take care of each other while in drinking situations.
Vander Ven suggests by infusing these social systems with bystander intervention training, students can offer each other more effective support.
Better Bystanders President Anthony Ciliberto says the club encourages students to practice the Four Ds of Intervention: Direct, Distract, Delegate, and Delay. Photo by Ellee Achten, BSJ 14, MA 17
Its important to give bystander training to that unit and ask, What are you doing to take care of each other? How do you do it? And what can we do to improve that process? he says.
The OHIO community has Better Bystanders, a student-led organization that offers training to students, faculty, and community members on how to safely stand up. They ask participants to practice the Four Ds of Intervention: Direct, Distract, Delegate, and Delay.
How you intervene depends on your personality, so whether an extrovert or introvert, its what you feel most comfortable doing, said Anthony Ciliberto, the organizations president.
As long as youre intervening in some way, thats what makes a difference, he says.
Illustration by Andrea Ucini
