CW: This article mentions sexual assault. Please refer to the end of the article for on- and off-campus resources.

Delays in mandatory first-year bystander training prompted students and faculty to speak out about the dangers surrounding lack of education around interpersonal violence and consent. 

Bystander intervention training workshops, which educate students on interpersonal violence, safety and consent, are required for all new students at Georgetown University. The trainings typically occur early in the academic year; during the 2019-20 academic year, the university mandated students complete the training by the end of September. However, the university has not scheduled the trainings for fall 2021. With just one month left in the semester, students and faculty are concerned many students have yet to receive training on topics of interpersonal violence and consent. 

Sara Collina, Title IX expert and professor of women’s and gender studies, said the bystander training should have run in September, the most dangerous time for college sexual assaults. 

“The beginning of school is the most dangerous time, the most likely time that people will commit sexual harm,” Collina said in a Zoom interview with The Hoya. “Studies have shown that there is a vulnerability that happens in the first six weeks or so of school. It’s the most likely time for Georgetown students to commit sexual assault.”

More than 50% of all sexual assaults on college campuses take place between August and November, according to Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. Additionally, students are most vulnerable to sexual assault during their first year on campus. 

Students initially raised concerns about delays in August after Health Education Services pushed back alcohol education trainings, Sexual Assault Prevention training and bystander trainings to mid-September. In September, the university announced it would host bystander intervention training workshops at an undecided later date in the fall semester. All new students have now completed the required Sexual Assault Prevention trainings and AlcoholEdu, according to a university spokesperson.

Georgetown has still not set an official start date for bystander training, but a university spokesperson said Georegtown plans to launch them “as soon as possible.”

After a fully virtual 2020-21 academic year, all first-year, sophomore and transfer students are now required to complete in-person bystander training. In past years, the university only required first-years and transfer students to participate. Now, nearly half the student body, as opposed to one-quarter, has yet to receive training. 

In light of this higher proportion of untrained students, the university must act quickly to prepare students for potential safety concerns, according to Collina. 

“One of the things that my students tell me that I find particularly heartbreaking is how committed so many of my female-identified students are to basically watching each other’s backs so they don’t get hurt,” Collina said. “That’s not what you should be doing with your Georgetown time. This is not inevitable. This is not normal.” 

Anna Cheng (MSB ’25), who must complete the bystander training as a first-year student, said she is confused by the lack of communication by the university.

“I don’t know particularly what to do, but I would use my best knowledge to do the best that I can do with what I know,” Cheng said in an interview with The Hoya.

According to Dominic Gordon (SFS ’24), the training is necessary to prepare students for potentially dangerous situations, especially as they transition from high school to college.

“I think it’s important that people have an idea of what to do if they’re in that situation,” Gordon said in a phone interview with The Hoya. 

More students are currently at risk because the sophomores have not gone through the training, according to Collina. 

“We’re not talking about just a quarter of the population,” Collina said. “It’s a really large group of students who both could receive important information about expectations at Georgetown about what relationships should look like and could look like and deserve to look like.”

Resources: On-campus resources include Health Education Services (202-687-8949) and Counseling and Psychiatric Service (202-687-7080); additional off-campus resources include the D.C. Rape Crisis Center (202-333-7273) and the D.C. Forensic Nurse Examiner Washington Hospital Center (844-443-5732). If you or anyone you know would like to receive a sexual assault forensic examination or other medical care — including emergency contraception — call the Network for Victim Recovery of D.C. at 202-742-1727. To report sexual misconduct, you can contact Georgetown’s Title IX coordinator at 202-687-9183 or file an online report here. Emergency contraception is available at the CVS located at 1403 Wisconsin Ave NW and through H*yas for Choice. For more information, visit sexualassault.georgetown.edu.