The Student Athlete Advisory Committee this past Saturday launched Step UP!, a program meant to promote pro-social and bystander intervention behavior among student athletes, at the Fan the Fire event held in Cousens Gym.
Step UP! educates students about intervening in the case of incidents such as sexual assault, hazing, dangerous alcohol consumption and misconduct at athletic events, according to Lauren Creath, a student athlete and representative for the program at Tufts.
Step UP! is an overall message of being there for your teammates and your friends, Creath, a senior, said.
Assistant Director of Athletics Branwen King-Smith believes that the program will teach students how to be aware and intercede when there is a problem.
The goal of the group is to teach each other how to step in and help somebody and stay safe at the same time, King-Smith said. People are often knowledgeable about these issue areas, but theres a void in knowing how to help someone at risk.
Creath explained that students and faculty at the University of Arizona originally developed the idea for the Step UP! program. Director of Clinical Sport Psychology at the University of Arizona Scott Goldman visited Tufts last year to help implement the program on campus.
Fan the Fire then joined forces with Step UP! to start spreading the word about the program, according to student athlete and senior Jo Clair. At Saturdays event, students had the opportunity to sign boards promising to step up. The boards will be placed around campus to continue raising awareness about the program.
Students at the event were also invited to take part in a short video by explaining how they planned to step up in the future, Clair said. A similar video explaining Step UP!s mission was posted on the Fan the Fire Facebook page on Oct. 30.
All students who pledged to help their fellow students by intervening were entered into a raffle to win an iPod mini and received red Step UP! shirts, Clair said.
Training for Step UP! takes about one hour and focuses on five key steps involved in helping a peer in a dangerous situation, according to Clair. These steps include noticing an event is happening, investigating and asking questions, taking responsibility, learning how to help and taking action while being a leader.
The training session, held by King-Smith and members of the Department of Health Education, includes interactive lessons and a PowerPoint presentation, Clair said.
[Step UP! is] a simple program that makes people more aware of their surroundings and more aware of helping others in situations that college kids face regularly, she said.
Clair noted that the SAAC, which includes two student athletes from each varsity team at Tufts, will receive the training first. Step UP! leaders will then focus on educating team captains, who in turn will encourage the rest of their teams to start the program.
From there, Creath and Clair hope that Step UP! will spread to the Greek community and the rest of the student body.
The goal is to have it university-wide, but for right now were using student athletes and specifically Fan the Fire as a launching platform for the greater community at Tufts, Clair said.
King-Smith stressed the importance of involving the whole Tufts community and using Step UP! to encourage cooperation and collaboration.
We want it to be school-wide, King-Smith said. Its not all about athletics. Its really about bringing the community together.
