The Uplifting UPstanders program was held in Centennial Hall on April 14 and seeks to educate students on sexual assault intervention and prevention. The goal of the program includes engaging student leaders on the topic and allowing a space for peer education. Student-led, Uplifting UPstanders molds to the UW-La Crosse campus in order to best serve the community’s needs in terms of sexual assault prevention efforts.

One of the program’s organizers, Maricruz Sanchez, considers herself a survivor and “wanted to empower the UW-L community and fight against the issue.” Maricruz Sanchez and Libbie Millers, creators of the program, came up with the idea for Uplifting UPstanders when talking about their own experiences and frustrations with the issue of sexual assault, and didn’t believe it was traditionally discussed in an effective way to combat it. Afterward, they decided they wanted to do more and began to do research on prevention programs. Uplifting UPstanders was inspired by a program from the University of New Hampshire’s Bringing in the Bystander, which the Office of Violence Prevention supplied for the creators to work from, but has evolved in order to better serve the UW-L community.

“It’s been a group effort,” says Sanchez of creating Uplifting UPstanders. Although the program itself is student-led peer education, it is also backed by individuals across campus. Apart from the two students generating the idea, the program has also gained support and development from graduate students like AJ Clauss, Libby Thorson, Roi Kawai, Kallen Anderson and Andrew Ives. UW-L professors, the Office of Violence Prevention, and Campus Climate have also helped this program grow.

The program consists of “un-learning,” according to Sanchez, and believes people need to deconstruct myths they’ve been taught in order to better prevent sexual assault. Another segment of the program focuses on the “Three Ds”: direct, delegate and distract. These terms all denote ways in which individuals can intervene. ‘Direct’ refers to an approach in which one would directly express they’re concerned and offer help. However, ‘delegate’ would mean that perhaps a person is too uncertain to approach a situation and would try to find the individual’s friends to help. ‘Distract’ refers to asking or saying something seemingly random to those involved, throwing them off-guard and diffusing the situation.

Uplifting UPstanders seeks to encourage students to lead sexual assault prevention efforts. Although the program hopes to educate as many students as they can, they also hope to find student leaders willing to facilitate the program itself. So far, over forty five students have been trained through Uplifting UPstanders over the span of three trainings. Student-led efforts can prove to be very effective in terms of prevention, and the program would also be more inclined to evolve along with the UW-L community. Joining Uplifting UPstanders teaches students to recognize and respond to situations, interrupt sexist behaviors and become part of the solution. To receive more information about the program, students should contact [email protected], check out the Uplifting UPstanders Facebook page, or the Campus Climate website to learn more.