Advocates against college sexual assault can help college administrators increase prevention in a variety of
ways. By helping students have a voice with their administrators, advocates can change the prevailing
cultural climate and further the goal of recognizing sexual assault as criminal behavior. Proper
communication between administrators and students is key. By raising awareness and implementing victim-centered policies on campus, faculty and staff can also play a role to improve safety and further prevention.
Administrators need to be made aware that advocates, faith-based groups, and an entire NSVRC database of
local organizations are available to help so that administrators don’t feel pressured that they’re working
alone. Rape and sexual assault are difficult subject matters, but action must be taken. Advocates against
sexual assault can study and learn from the advocates against the drunk driving movement in the 1980s.
Those efforts provided administration engagement which changed behaviors, thereby reducing offenses. The
same advocacy strategy can be used to help reduce sexual assault on college campuses and reverse the
entrenched attitude of blaming the victims of these sexual crimes. Too many colleges favor leniency towards
accusations of sexual misconduct. Offenders and even repeat offenders can receive leniency because of
athlete status or popularity which is why campus sexual assault goes unreported so often. Advocacy through
social marketing has the capacity to change all of this. It can teach bystanders how to intervene as onlookers
are more apt to act when trained with intervention strategies and supported by groups. This same type of
community advocacy proved indispensable to the success of changing cultural attitudes towards drunk
driving. In this same way, community advocacy and awareness can help institutions implement change to
educate and institute measures to prevent future sexual assaults and provide better support to survivors of
sexual offenses as well as any affected people closest to them,
