HU Sexual Assault Prevention And Community Equity Working Group (HU SPACE)

A new approach to sexual violence prevention – one grounded in a broad commitment to equity, empathy, and empowering communities like Howard University, to work together toward our shared goal of campus equity.

About the HU SPACE Working Group

In continuance of Howard University’s commitment to ending sexual assault and other forms of interpersonal violence within the University community, the Office of Interpersonal Violence Prevention is seeking your support as a critical stakeholder in Howard University’s commitment to providing a safe, respectful, and inclusive learning and working environment free from sex and gender-based discrimination, harassment, and violence.

This semester, Howard University will commence a beta test of the newly created Sexual Assault Prevention And Community Equity toolkit (SPACE) from the writers of Sexual Citizens: Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus. The toolkit provides campuses a new approach to sexual violence prevention – one grounded in a broad commitment to equity. The process invites diverse stakeholders like you: students, staff, faculty and partners, and senior administration, to be on the same team. SPACE is both practical and hopeful. It is grounded in empathy, giving communities ways to work together toward their shared goal of campus equity.

The SPACE toolkit encourages you to think less about individuals and more about environments. It describes how to bring your campus together, to assess how residential and social spaces are organized, and make a plan to leverage the organization of residential and/or social space on campus to advance campus equity. SPACE applies insights from public health and distills some of the ideas from the book Sexual Citizens into four practical phases. A fundamental tenet of a public health approach is to focus on creating environments where people are less likely to act in ways that hurt others or themselves and are more able to thrive.

As explained in Sexual Citizens, sexual geographies encompass the spatial contexts people move through and the friends and organizations that regulate access to those spaces. Space is not just a backdrop, where certain behaviors tend to occur in certain places. Instead, space can deeply influence our behavior.
 

[Adapted from the (SPACE) Toolkit)]

About the Office of Interpersonal Violence Prevention

The mission of the Howard University Office of Interpersonal Violence Prevention (IVPP) is to enhance the quality of life of students at Howard University by providing on-campus, survivor advocacy, crisis management, and campus-wide training, education, and opportunities for interpersonal skill development in the effort to reduce/eliminate the campus and life impacts of dating, domestic and intimate partner violence, sexual assault and harassment and stalking. Email Us at: IVPPHU@howard.edu for more information on our services.

Visit Our Website

Take The HU Stands Pledge Against Sexual Assault

Volunteer with IVPP

Request a Training or Workshop

Consider Participating In the HU SPACE Committee

FAQ's

What is the purpose of the HU SPACE Committee?

The purpose of the HU SPACE working group is to establish an ongoing opportunity for campus conversation and action in ending sexual assault within the community. With a road map for institutional change, members of the HU community can support solutions and change by understanding how physical space reflects and can even amplify power inequalities.

For this reason, campus spaces are part of why sexual assault is so common. That troubling insight comes with a hopeful implication. Space and policies can be redesigned to promote equity. 

The SPACE work encourages campuses to think less about individuals and more about environments.It describes how to bring a campus together to assess how residential and social spaces are organized, and to make a plan to leverage the organization of residential and/or social space on campus to advance campus equity.

How will the committee do this work?

  

Institutional stakeholders who affect how space is used and distributed form one-half of the working group while representative groups of student stakeholders who occupy diverse positions of power and privilege will form the other half of the working group. Meetings will occur within each group individually, to explain the process, establish ground rules to promote safety and inclusivity, review the toolkit, and get feedback on who is missing and who should be invited to participate.

Then the groups join together and the actual work begins!

  • Working group participants will build a common language and understanding of what sexual geographies mean on our campus, paying attention to these 5 dimensions of space:
    1. Residential
    2. Social
    3. Virtual
    4. Programmatic
    5. Public

 

  • Participants will also:
    1. have the opportunity to express their understanding of and priorities for mapping sexual geographies to enhance equity and prevent violence.
    2. Reorient these ideas around the unequal access to and experience of space.
    3. Prioritize these ideas and select a focus.
    4. Map the physical, social, and institutional power dynamics students experience in the spaces that have been prioritized
    5. Conduct a review of relevant policies and practices affecting the targeted spaces
    6. Brainstorm possible solutions to address the barriers to equal access the working group has uncovered
    7. Gather feedback about possible solutions from community stakeholders
    8. Create a plan of action based on the working group findings, utilizing the resources in the toolkit to draft new policies and practices that build more equitable ownership, safety, and belonging for marginalized community members within the target spaces.

Once this process is completed, participants can build partnerships either internally or externally to help evaluate progress, and potentially start again, in order to take on additional elements of campus life.

I'm interested in participating, but don't know alot about this issue. Where can I learn more?

IVPP has hard copies of the book Sexual Citizens for any community member that would like to read the book

 

We have created a YouTube Playlist of video's that discuss the concepts participants will explore.

 

How will meetings occur?

  • Meetings will occur as much as possible in a hybrid format, with opportunities for in-person and virtual engagement.
  • Group Sessions will occur once a month: 
    • One Session for Students
    • One session for staff and faculty

Will there be opportunities to share my insights without attending committee meetings

Yes, please return to this page later for more information about how to share your insights without attending a committee session.