Bystander prevention program aims to reduce gender violence

“No one has to do everything, but everyone has to do something,” is the motto for the Green Dot program, launching an initiative the week of Sept. 19-23.  

Green Dot is an NISG-sponsored bystander intervention program focused on gender violence prevention at UNI. They target sexual assault, stalking, dating and domestic abuse with hope to decrease the likelihood of it occurring on campus. 

Hannah Menken, the graduate assistant for the program, oversees all of the planning, scheduling, events, and assists with campus outreach to ensure a change on campus. “Green Dot Week is full of fun activities, tabling events, and trainings for staff, faculty, and students,” she said.

 There will be 90-minute training sessions on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday which is the best way to get involved with the program. 

They also have other training opportunities throughout the year.  “You can visit greendot.uni.edu to sign up for a training and learn more about what the training consists of,” Menken said.

There will also be a launch event on Sept. 21 from 7:00-8:30 p.m., located in Maucker Union. 

Menken said, “We have activities and many prizes to give away! Those prizes are from local businesses that donated gift cards and baskets to help raise awareness of Green Dot. Some of those include prizes from Carlos O’ Kelly’s, Jimmy Johns, UNI Bookstore, McDonald’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Pearl Tea and so much more!”

The program uses green dots to symbolize an action/choice that promotes safety and intolerance for violence, according to the Green Dot webpage. They use red dots to show an act of power-based interpersonal violence. 

Menken said, “The long-term goal of the Green Dot program is for us to add more and more green dots so that our map is covered in more green dots than red dots.”

  “We are in control of what this map looks like,” she added. “We are the ones to decide that acts of interpersonal violence are not tolerated on our campus, and we will be the ones to make a difference and be the change.”