Sexual Violence Prevention and Response

SVPR, short for Sexual Violence Prevention & Response, is a small (and growing!) collective of dedicated activists seeking to address and respond to rape culture on Tulane’s campus. As the name suggests, SVPR pursues initiatives that are both prevention and response-facing in its efforts to decrease the presence of sexual violence and support survivors in accessing resources and care. We are an open committee, meaning that we have no application or requirements to join, and you can join us at any point in the semester and we will help you get familiarized with and involved in ongoing initiatives. We meet weekly from 7-8pm on Wednesdays in Newcomb Institute room 335 (3rd floor Commons). Our executive team also meets weekly on Mondays. 

To organize some of our main functions, we primarily create & implement initiatives, hold special events, and approve All In grants. First, our initiatives are created and implemented by our members, and overseen by our Directors. The Director of Prevention, Ian Michelson, oversees all prevention-focused initiatives, and the Director of Response, Anna Johnson, oversees all response-focused initiatives. One past initiative we have worked on was a content warning guide for journalists and activists, published in the Hullabaloo in our “Letter to the Editor | Reporting on Sexual Violence” Part 1 and Part 2. These articles reflected on how the university has reported on sexual violence in the past, and how it could improve. We created a content warning guide linked in those articles to assist journalists in more appropriately warning readers of descriptions of sexual violence. Another example of an initiative we did last year was a 3-day tabling campaign where we passed out collective-designed resources including “Self-Care: Tips & Tricks,” “Key Definitions Regarding Sexual Violence,” and “Navigating Support Following Sexual Violence at Tulane.” We shared these resources the week of the Climate Survey release to give students some information and resources before a heavy event filled with emotionally draining statistics and the potential to cause students to reflect on their own uncomfortable experiences. 

Second, SVPR holds special events. The largest and most profound of these is the Annual Sexual Violence Town Hall, in which we gather a panel of professionals and students who work with prevention and response work every day. The audience members anonymously ask questions, and the panel is preceded by opening remarks and a keynote speaker. This year, this event had over 100 attendees, our largest showing of the past 8 iterations of the town hall. Last year, we also held an event during Sex Week, in which two executive board members led the first run of the SAPHE (Un)Healthy Relationships Workshop. Another event we held last year called “Demystifying the Conduct Process” involved a presentation from a Tulane investigator, Jaquelyn Barber, who broke down the Title IX & Major Matters conduct processes with a Q&A at the end. 

Thirdly, a special privilege of SVPR is to review and vote to approve or deny All In grants. All In is Tulane’s programming to combat and respond to sexual violence at Tulane involving a detailed All In 2.0 plan. All In funds student programmatic opportunities and inclusive initiatives that align with this goal. As a collective, SVPR meets with grant applicants to review, propose changes to, and vote to approve funding. For example, SVPR was thrilled to fund Masked Violence, a collective art exhibition fighting sexual violence created and organized by Sophi Tomasulo. 

SVPR can pursue all these initiatives and goals due to our highly functional horizontal leadership structure. We have 5 executive team members, Director of Prevention: Ian Michelson, Director of Response: Anna Johnson, Chair of Social Media and Outreach: Aditi Morumganti, and our Secretary: Joanna Fashjian. We meet weekly as a team to plan out general body meetings and coordinate communication for ongoing initiatives and events. Our horizontal leadership allows us to delegate or take on extra tasks when necessary, always ensuring that we fulfill our weekly goals.