TSG Hosts Bystander Intervention Training

BY JAYA MONTAGUE

Temple Student Government (TSG) held a bystander intervention training session in the Howard Gittis Student Center Underground, Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Lead by Tom Johnson, the Assistant Director of the Wellness Resource Center, the session featured performances of different situations where it was up to the audience to decide what the actor should do in the scenario. Scenarios included what to do when a friend harasses another person and how to intervene when someone tries to take advantage of someone who is drunk.

The session is one program that makes up the events of Temple’s first Sexual Assault Prevention Week. TSG collaborated with student organizations like the Queer People of Color (QPOC) and Student Activists Against Sexual Assault (SSA) to create programming.

Becky Cole, the secretary of SSA, wants to open the conversation about on assaults happening on Temple’s campus.

“I think it’s definitely something that is not talked about enough… so that people feel more safe and comfortable to share their experiences and report sexual assaults when it happens,” Cole said. “If those situations are happening, giving people those skills to intervene and to possibly help people who may need help and not know how to ask for it.”

The week also coincides with TSG’s “#ItsStopsWithUs” pledge and the “It’s On Us” campaign to stop sexual assaults on campuses nationwide.

Khadija Watson, a student in Temple’s Academy for Adult Learning, expressed happiness about the educational experience.

“It’s going to teach people about the event…bullying and how it can affect people mentally and physically,” said Watson.

Other programs and events include a self-defense workshop and a PSA at Temple’s football game against the University of Massachusetts Amherst.