Speak UP Bucknell

Speak UP Bucknell is a peer educator group supervised and coordinated by the interpersonal violence prevention and advocacy coordinator. This group of student volunteers is responsible for interpersonal violence prevention education and awareness campaigns on campus. These include prevention education workshops and awareness events.

Get Involved

There are many ways to get involved with Bucknell's efforts to prevent power-based personal violence, a concept that includes sexual misconduct, sexual violence, relationship violence and stalking.

Apply to be a Speak UP Peer

Speak UP Bucknell peer educators have the opportunity to make a difference in their campus community by educating their fellow students on topics related to sexual misconduct, relationship violence and stalking. Peers undergo extensive training in sexual violence prevention, consent, bystander intervention, rape culture, gender norms and healthy relationships, and how to support survivors of sexual violence.

Contact speakup@bucknell.edu to receive information on how to become a Speak UP peer.

Request a Workshop

Speak UP offers a number of different workshops that can be given to any hall, organization, chapter or team. We are able to work with a group to facilitate discussions and presentations around topics or questions of the group's choosing. For more information, email speakup@bucknell.edu or the Interpersonal Violence Prevention and Advocacy Coordinator, Kristin Gibson, at kg029@bucknell.edu.

Attend an Awareness Event

Each semester, Speak UP offers a number of events to educate the community and raise awareness of sexual violence, relationship violence and stalking. These events include Take Back the Night, the Clothesline Project, No More Month, the Red Flag Campaign, Purple Thursday, Sex Positive Week, and Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.

If you have any questions about Speak UP Bucknell or want more information about getting involved, please email speakup@bucknell.edu or the Interpersonal Violence Prevention and Advocacy Coordinator, Kristin Gibson, at kg029@bucknell.edu.

Be a Positive Bystander

Speak UP's education and awareness programs emphasize the positive bystander model, which assumes everyone has a role to play in ending sexual violence on campus. The programs and presentations offered by Speak UP Bucknell cover a range of topics such as sexual misconduct (including sexual assault), relationship violence and stalking as well as consent and healthy relationships.

Who Is a Positive Bystander?

Positive bystanders are individuals who witness harmful or dangerous situations and choose to intervene to prevent the situation from continuing or escalating. The positive bystander model promotes the idea that everyone in the community has a role to play in preventing sexual misconduct (including sexual assault), relationship violence and stalking. This model helps shift the responsibility for preventing violence from the victim (or potential victim) to the person perpetrating the violence and the individuals who witness the behavior. Here at Bucknell, we expect all members of the campus community to do their part to end violence and serve as positive bystanders.

Steps to Practicing Positive Bystander Behavior

1. Recognize an event as inappropriate or sexually violent.

These behaviors range from sexist or derogatory language to trying to take an intoxicated person up to a bedroom. Other inappropriate or potentially sexually violent behaviors include intentionally trying to get someone else intoxicated or trying to take advantage of someone who is intoxicated.

Things to think about:

  • Am I aware there is a problem or risky situation?
  • Do I recognize someone who needs help?

2. Assume personal responsibility.

Research shows that when more bystanders are present for an emergency or situation that could lead to a criminal event, individuals assume others will step in and intervene. You can make a real difference by assuming responsibility and stepping in to help.

Things to think about:

  • What are the costs/benefits of taking action?
  • Who else can help?
  • Do I see myself as part of the solution?

3. Determine how to help while maintaining personal safety.

Once you have made the decision to intervene, it is important to come up with an intervention strategy that is productive for the situation and ensures your safety, as well as for those involved. You can be creative in your approach; it does not always have to be confrontational. Speak UP recommends using the 3 Ds in evaluating your options for acting as a bystander: Directly confronting what you see happening, creating a distraction or removing one or more parties from the situation, or delegating the intervention to a person who might have more knowledge or power, such as friends, an RA or the police.

Things to think about:

  • How can I keep myself safe?
  • What are my available options?
  • Are there other people around me who can help me be a bystander?

4. Speak UP and intervene!

Now that you have thought through your strategy, carry out your plan. After you have intervened, check in with the person who needed help to make sure they are okay and they feel safe.

Things to think about:

  • Have I told everyone I need to about the problem?
  • Is everyone safe now?
  • How can I make sure the situation stays safe?

Questions?

Email speakup@bucknell.edu or the Interpersonal Violence Prevention and Advocacy Coordinator, Kristin Gibson, at kg029@bucknell.edu.