Frequently Asked Questions

The Sexual Violence Prevention Project (SVPP) is a multi-year skill-based prevention curriculum for all undergraduate students launched under former President Hanlon's Moving Dartmouth Forward plan.

The components in the curriculum are asset-based and designed to strengthen and cultivate positive behavior, change campus culture, and ultimately work to end sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking and harassment, collectively sexual violence. The curriculum aims to prevent sexual violence through active skill development and practice around four behaviors (outcomes):

1. Developing Positive Relationships & Sexual behavior
2. Using your Power in positive ways to foster Equity & Belonging
3. Checking-in & stepping-in through Bystander Intervention
4. Using the Resources, if needed, & Supporting those impacted by sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking, and harassment.

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Sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking, and harassment are concerns internationally, nationally, and here on campus, where members of our community have been deeply affected by the harmful behavior of others. This is not okay. We can prevent sexual violence, but in order to shift the culture that allows these behaviors to persist, we need to do something drastically different. Awareness and one-off programs are not enough. In 2015, the former President Hanlon '77 announced, as part of his Moving Dartmouth Forward (MDF) plan, that we would "introduce a comprehensive and mandatory four-year sexual violence prevention and education program for all undergraduate students." This initiative is the Sexual Violence Prevention Project (SVPP).

Unfortunately, most people are or will be affected in some way by sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking, or harassment, and that's not ok. Sexual violence is a cultural problem not just at Dartmouth, but nationally and globally. If every one of us learned and used the skills to prevent harm before it occurred, we could create a better and safer Dartmouth, and a better and safer world. The skills acquired through the SVPP are not only useful at Dartmouth, but are intended to be transferable to students' personal and professional lives long after Dartmouth. Changing culture starts with us, all of us, changing one behavior at a time.

Dartmouth is working with national experts in sexual violence prevention research at the University of New Hampshire's Prevention Innovations Research Center to develop a mixed-methods longitudinal assessment and evaluation for the SVPP to determine its effectiveness. Evaluation efforts are critical for understanding if and how the project is fostering the intended outcomes. We began this multi-year evaluation Fall 2020 with the Culture, Behavior, and Experiences (CBE) survey and have altered some evaluation plans as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Visit Evaluation FAQs for more information.

Yes. The SVPP is part of the undergraduate Dartmouth experience and required for all students, starting with the class of 2023. Students who do not complete their requirements will be in violation of our Community Standards and will receive a Conduct Sanction.

This is not intended to be punitive, but we do believe that it will take all of us working together to prevent violence, and participation is critical to being a member of the Dartmouth community. 

If you need additional time to engage with a component or have concerns about participating in any SVPP component for personal reasons, please contact us at SVPP@Dartmouth.edu to make arrangements. If you need support or would like to request a waiver from a confidential resource, please contact a WISE Advocate at campus@wiseuv.org or the College Chaplain, Reverend Nancy Vogele at College.Chaplain@dartmouth.edu.

Yes. If you need additional time to engage with a component or have concerns about participating in any SVPP component, please contact us at SVPP@Dartmouth.edu to make arrangements. Please note that SVPP staff are designated as responsible employees and as such are required to share disclosures of sexual violence with the Title IX Office. If you would like to request a modification or waiver from a confidential resource, please contact a WISE Advocate at campus@wiseuv.org or the College Chaplain, Reverend Nancy Vogele, at College.Chaplain@dartmouth.edu.

We truly believe students deserve to be a part of a campus community where sexual violence doesn't happen. As a community, we need to get real about what it's going to take to get there. We know from research that Awareness Weeks and one-off programming are not effective and have not empirically shown to create widespread behavior change. We have no interest in continuing to do something that we know doesn't work. Research shows that to really create change, we all need to be engaging with prevention experiences that are comprehensive and occur regularly enough to strengthen our skills and actually produce the changes we're hoping for. This means that starting with the class of '23, all undergraduate students will participate in multiple sexual violence prevention experiences each year, throughout their time at Dartmouth.

Yes. SVPP is a comprehensive four-year curriculum with components that students help create and facilitate, but SVPP is not a student group. 

SPCSA (Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault) is a group of students that act as an intermediary between the administration, faculty/staff, alumni and the student body. The committee solicits student concerns, conceptualizes new projects and policies, advises the administration, and shares updates and information about sexual violence, with campus.

SAPA (Sexual Assault Peer Alliance) is a student organization that provides support to peers who have experienced harm associated with sexual violence. SAPAs receive extensive training around sexual assault, trauma response, resources, active listening, and more to provide support and help connect survivors to additional resources. 

MAV (Movement Against Violence) was a student organization that facilitated conversations surrounding sexual violence in Greek houses and other student communities. MAV was dissolved in 2019 as a result of an increased institutional focus on violence prevention and part of a long-term strategic shift in sexual violence prevention efforts on campus. The SVPP will provide violence prevention for all students on campus, including Greek houses, and students interested in facilitating programs can become SVPP Student Facilitators.

Check out the SVPP Team page to see everyone on the team!

Students are heavily involved in the development, design, and implementation of the SVPP and represent a large portion of the SVPP Team!

Student Facilitators facilitate the First-Year Experience and some of the Sophomore Year Experience. The Student Advisory Board (SAB) conducts interviews with other students, helps develop and pilot prototypes for new components, gives feedback to help build and shape every step of the implementation and curriculum, and helps disseminate information to campus. Student interns take lead on specific projects or jobs, oversee our social media, and work more closely with the professional staff. Students also participate in focus groups as new components are built, the SVPP staff work closely with many student communities and attend meetings with student organizations to collect their insights, and all student feedback from SVPP surveys is read and used to make changes. Students also helped develop this FAQ!

Visit the Get Involved page for more information and additional ways to contribute!

There are so many different ways to help out! Talking about the importance of prevention and showing support for the SVPP in clubs, houses, teams, or friend groups doesn't take much effort and is a great way to start! To get more involved, check out the Get Involved page to learn about student facilitators, the Student Advisory Board, internships, and other opportunities!

The SVPP curriculum was created because we care about survivors, and we are working to reduce the number of students affected by sexual violence. The Sexual Violence Prevention Project is a curriculum and not a direct service so it does not provide direct support for survivors. That being said, one of the four overarching goals or outcomes of the curriculum is to increase every student's ability to support survivors and increase survivor's use of the resources, if they want to use them. So, throughout the curriculum, students will learn about the resources and acquire skills, using a trauma-informed approach, to minimize further harm when supporting and connecting their peers, who have experienced violence, to additional support. Additionally, we always provide information about the resources that do give direct support to survivors, in our communications and trainings.

There are a lot, including resources that are available 24/7, confidential support and counseling, medical care and evidence collection, anonymous and formal reporting options to the College and/or the police, support for academic and housing concerns, safety planning, etc. 

Here are some useful links:

• Resources both on and off campus
• Your Rights and Options
• WISE confidential survivor advocates
• Getting help immediately after an assault, relationship violence, stalking, or harassment
• Dartmouth's Policy and Procedures for Sexual & Gender-Based Misconduct
• Reporting an incident to the College or the police
• Dartmouth's Title IX website for additional information