UnderSTAND: Bystander Intervention - UnderSTAND to Take a Stand (music playing)
Hi, I'm Corporal Bishop, and I'm Officer Sutherland
with the Western Illinois University Police Department.
Dating and domestic violence,
sexual assault and stalking
are widespread problems that affect
communities across the United States.
Exposure to interpersonal violence has been
associated with a variety of negative outcomes
including substance abuse,
depression, health risk behaviors,
and symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder.
Many of these situations could be avoided
if people observing the situation had
stood up and said something.
Please watch the following video
and think about how you could intervene
to prevent a potentially life shattering sexual assault.
After the video, we will have a short discussion
with members of the Western Illinois University
campus community. Safety is everyone's business.
Music
Background chatter
Hey.
Hey, you look familiar.
Are we in English class together?
Yeah!
I thought I recognized you.
You sit behind me, right?
Yeah. I thought I recognized you.
You like give me your home . . homework all the time.
Who are you here with?
Oh, my friends.
Oh, cool.
They left you.
That happens (giggle).
You wanna go take a shot?
Oh, um, no thanks. I'm good.
No, come on. It will be fun.
Let's go.
Hey, man.
What's up?
Dude, she's so drunk.
I'm definitely gettin' laid.
Hey.
You wanna go upstairs?
It'll be fun. Come on. Let's go.
Hey, man. What's up?
Dude, she's so drunk.
I'm definitely gettin' laid tonight.
I don't know, man,
it seems like a bad idea.
She's like . . . really drunk.
It might be a bad idea.
You're right.
Hey.
You need this.
Let's go find your friends.
Yeah, you're right.
I'll be right back.
Hey, girl.
Hey, are you, are you okay?
Umhum
Yeah, come on, let's go home.
Music
Thank you for watching the video.
I'm Dr. Jennie Hemingway
and I am joined today by some students
at Western Illinois University.
Hi, I'm Leann and I'm a junior here at Western.
Hi, I'm Holly and I'm a senior here at Western.
Hi, I'm Calvin. I'm a junior here at Western.
And I'm Megan. I'm also a junior here at Western.
So how would you choose to intervene in this situation
that you just saw in the video?
I think if I was in that situation,
I would definitely, um, approach the situation, um
depending on how much alcohol they look to have consumed.
I would definitely approach it in a different way
but I would definitely approach the situation and say
"Hey, you know, I think one of you needs to go home
or both of you. It looks like you've had too much to drink
and if you still want this in the morning,
you can come back to it maybe then.
But, right now you both need to go home and get a good night's sleep."
I think I would intervene, um, just being a friend of the girl's before
she even gets approached by the guy.
I wouldn't leave my friends like that, and, like,
leave them alone, especially at a party.
You need to have people you trust go with you
so you don't have this kind of situation.
So, stopping it before it even happens
is probably the best way to intervene on this.
Thank you.
Have you ever thought if the tables were flipped,
what if it was a girl hitting on the guy?
What would you do?
I mean I typically haven't thought of that before.
It's not necessarily the first thing you see
when looking at a situation.
It's almost hard to look at it that way
because it's not something that we're used to seeing.
Yeah, I would agree.
Um, it's not something I think about, but
it's still, um, a serious situation. So I would
think that if a guy needed help that I would help him out.
If he feels like he's being harassed.
Are there other ways that you could think
to intervene in that situation?
If it was the girl hitting on the guy?
I mean I still think I'd feel most comfortable
talking to the girl.
Uh, maybe saying like,
"Hey, let's go home, or let's go back to the halls."
Yeah, basically the same thing.
I would, um, actually feel more comfortable
talking to the guy.
Um, but I'd just be like,
"Hey, I see you're kind of having some issues.
Let's go."
Um, and if she's pressing then just call the police.
If it's that much of an issue.
Have any of you ever intervened in a situation before?
Uh, yes. Uh, last semester I
was walking back to Corbin Hall
um, and when I entered
the hall, there was a male harassing a female.
And he, um, was forcing himself on her.
And I kind of intervened.
I said, "Hey, like what are you doing?
She doesn't look like she's accepting that."
And he told me to get back
and I threatened to call the police.
So we kind of got into an altercation there,
but he eventually ended up leaving.
I made sure she got back to her room safely.
Great! Good for you.
What about the staff at bars?
Do you think they should intervene in situations?
I do think that staff in the bar should
intervene in situations if they do see it happening.
Um, it's obviously not something
they're gonna be out looking for
because they do have other things they're worrying about.
But, if they see something
then I definitely think they should
be able to step up and say,
"Hey, this isn't okay."
Because that is a lot of where it does start
is out in public.
It doesn't necessarily start in the room
or when they're alone.
There's also bouncers at the bars
so I feel like if they see a girl leaving with
a guy or a guy leaving with a girl
that they didn't necessarily come with,
and one of them looks too intoxicated
to even go with the person,
they should say something.
Be like, "Hey, this isn't who you came with. Like,
where's the people you came with?"
Um, and make sure, like, nothing's going on there.
Yeah, I think, um
it may not be in their job description
to really help that kind of stuff,
but you gotta think about that.
Like that's somebody's daughter,
that's somebody's girlfriend or boyfriend.
Like, you gotta think personally, on a personal level
about that, and, uh, help people out.
Yeah, I like definitely agree with everything they've said.
I think they're the people that are there right at the beginning
and see everything happening.
They're not under the influence because
they're working, so I think it's important
that they do step up.
Thank you for speaking with me today.
And remember that if you see something,
say something.
Music