Project Safe

Advocacy

Education/Outreach

Community Coordination

Prevention

Rape Kits Info

Rape Drugs Info

Located at the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center, Project Safe is a coordinated campus-wide effort aimed at education, prevention and response services for Vanderbilt students, faculty and staff affected by sexual assault, intimate partner abuse, and stalking.

Advocacy
Project Safe is committed to creating safe spaces for survivors of all races, religions, sexual orientations and genders. Our advocacy efforts include individual, group, and institutional advocacy.

Crisis Intervention: If you or your friend has had an experience that you need or want to discuss, Project Safe staff will listen. All information is treated with strict confidentiality. You can drop into the office or call ahead for an appointment at 322-1333.
Support Groups: Project Safe offers a support group for survivors of sexual assault and a support group for women experiencing violence in a relationship. The groups are completely confidential. For more information, call 322-1333.
Policies and Procedures: Based on feedback from survivors and advocates, Project Safe periodically reviews current policies and protocols. We suggest changes to current policies and drafts new policies when necessary. Project Safe also considers current response procedures and suggests changes when necessary. For more information, call 322-1333.

Education and Outreach
Because gender-biased violence affects everyone in our community, Project Safe’s education efforts strive to be inclusive of all races, religions, sexual orientations, and genders.

Programs include:

Hand in Hand
936-7273 (6-RAPE)
This is a campus organization that operates an telephone line where students, faculty and staff can call with questions related to sexual assault, intimate partner abuse and stalking. Hand in Hand is a group of students, faculty and staff who have been trained to answer questions about medical options, legal options, emotional distress and campus resources available to survivors and their friends. Trainings for volunteers are held in the Fall and Spring semesters. ALL CALLS WILL BE KEPT CONFIDENTIAL.

Men Promoting a Solution
phone: 322-1333
Men Promoting a Solution is a campus organization dedicated to creating awareness about and eliminating violent crimes against women. Members of MPAS try personally to live in ways that are not threatening to the women they know. They also recognize that while this is part of the solution, it is not enough. MPAS came together to examine current educational programming directed at men and identify weaknesses, gaps and strengths therein. They also sponsor various awareness events throughout the academic year.

Peer Educators of Project Safe
phone: 322-1333
A group of students trained to facilitate discussions about sexual assault, intimate partner abuse and stalking. Peer educators create seminars and discussion formats and then travel to campus groups and residence halls to promote discussion and encourage understanding of violence against women. Trainings for peer educators are held in the Fall and Spring semesters.

Faculty/Staff Outreach
phone: 322-3774
Project Safe employs a faculty/staff educator to provide education, outreach and training to Vanderbilt’s faculty and staff members. The educator designs programs appropriate to the needs of each department or office. Call for more information.

Community Coordination
The Violence Against Women Task Force
In an effort to coordinate Vanderbilt University’s response to violence against women, concerned members of the Vanderbilt community formed a task force in May, 1999. Included on our task force are representatives from the Division of Student Life, Vanderbilt University Police Department, the Women's Studies Program, the Employee Assistance Program, the University Chaplain and Affiliated Ministries, the Opportunity Development Center, the Athletic Department, and our community partners the Rape and Sexual Abuse Center, the YWCA, and the Ujima House, Inc.

Since all of these departments and service agencies are in contact with survivors and perpetrators of violence, the Violence Against Women Task Force was developed to coordinate and improve services and outreach, review policies and protocols, and implement prevention programs.

Call for more information: 322-1333

Prevention
Tips for "preventing" violence against women have historically focused on the behavior of the victims and have ignored the behavior of perpetrators. Women (who represent over 90% of the victims of sexual assault, stalking, and domestic violence) have been warned of the dangers of overalls, ponytails, cell phones, alleyways, and nighttime, while men (who represent over 90% of the perpetrators of these crimes) have been either lectured about jail or ignored altogether. For too long there has been a dangerous assumption that "boys will be boys" and women will have to adjust their freedoms to protect themselves from perpetrators. This antiquated notion fails to hold men who perpetuate violence accountable for their actions. It not only threatens the rights of women, but harms men as well by implying that the majority of men are rapists, or batterers, or stalkers, when in fact, the majority of men are not.

Certainly, there are some common-sense things that all of us can do to attempt to guard our community from predators (Vanderbilt Police and Security has a great website detailing tips for men and women -- see http://police.vanderbilt.edu/ ). It also makes sense for women to learn how to defend themselves against attacks since we are socialized to submit, to appease, to surrender. That is why Project Safe supports the Rape Aggression Defense program by providing funding to train officers so we could increase the number of trainings offered at Vanderbilt. However, it is important to keep in mind that the majority of assaults against women are perpetrated by someone known to them, not a masked stranger hiding in a bush.

Women are not raped, battered, or stalked because of anything they do or fail to do, but because of something the perpetrator chooses to do. Thus, prevention messages must be focused on potential perpetrators, not on potential victims. So, when we talk about prevention, we are talking about ending violence by challenging the cultural values that perpetuate it and holding accountable the individuals who perpetrate it. Our prevention efforts focus on working with men to challenge their peers and to be role models for others. We work to raise awareness about the devaluation of women through language, media, and policy. And, we have organized a group of men (Men Promoting a Solution) who meet bi-weekly to plan strategies for future prevention efforts.

Project Safe’s prevention messages target the culture that supports violence, not the victims of the violence.

For more information about Project Safe, call Vicky Basra at 322-1333.

In compliance with federal law, including the provisions of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Vanderbilt University does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, or military service in its administration of educational policies, programs, or activities; its admissions policies; scholarship and loan programs; athletic or other University-administered programs; or employment. In addition, the University does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation consistent with University nondiscrimination policy. Inquiries or complaints regarding these issues should be directed to the Opportunity Development Officer, Baker Building, Box 1809, Station B, Nashville, TN 37235. Telephone (615) 322-4705 (V/TDD); Fax (615) 343-4969.