The Value of Student Activists: Changemakers and Strategists at the Heart of Sexual Violence Prevention

Colleges and universities have publicly committed to being innovative, change-making spaces for many years. Many post-secondary institutions claim to drive social change through research and community engagement (and sometimes, they do). However, without student activism, these institutions would be even further behind than they currently are, especially when it comes to sexual violence prevention and intervention on campus.

Before diving into the importance of working with students and ensuring their voices inform policy, prevention, and intervention initiatives, it is crucial to recognize that student activists have been doing unpaid labor for many years in order to make their campuses safe – which is a right that should already be met. This work should not be falling on the shoulders of students. The reality of institutions right now is that they need to work with students in order to update and create effective sexual violence prevention tools. However, students should be respected, listened to, and compensated fairly for their expertise.

Since the late 1990s, survivor advocacy organizations have been popping up across Canada. These activist organizations are dedicated to addressing the lack of accountability held by colleges and universities, to supporting survivors and speaking out on survivor-identified concerns or issues with campus policies, supports, and reporting processes, and to amplifying the visibility of activists in local and institutional settings.

There are 3 common pillars of strategies used by student activists in institutional contexts that seem to be the most effective when used together:

1. Rational persuasion = clear, logical reasoning and real evidence to convince someone that a proposed action is a good idea and will help achieve a specific goal. The key is using logical arguments, credible evidence, and a clear explanation of how the proposed action (i.e. a specific prevention program or awareness initiative) will directly address the identified problem and meet important objectives like student safety and institutional responsibility.

   
   

   Imagine a student wants to start a campus-wide sexual violence prevention program.

   Using rational persuasion, student activists might approach university administrators by:

   • Presenting statistical data about sexual assault rates on college campuses

   • Sharing research about the effectiveness of comprehensive prevention training

   • Explaining how such a program could improve student safety, campus culture, and the university's reputation

   • Providing concrete examples of successful prevention programs from other universities

   • Outlining specific, achievable steps for implementing the program

   • Demonstrating how the program could reduce incidents of sexual violence and support survivors

2. Coalition =  working together with different people or groups who share a common goal, combining their strengths and resources to create more powerful and persuasive advocacy. The strength of a coalition lies in its ability to unite diverse perspectives and resources toward a shared objective, making their advocacy more powerful and harder to ignore than individual efforts.

   
   

   A group of students might form a coalition to address sexual violence on campus by bringing together:

   • Student survivors' support groups

   • Campus counseling center staff

   • Women's and gender studies department faculty

   • Student government leaders

   • Local sexual assault support organizations

   
   

   By forming this coalition, they could:

   • Pool their knowledge and experiences

   • Increase their collective visibility and credibility

   • Share resources and strategies

   • Create a more comprehensive approach to prevention and support

   • Amplify their message and increase the likelihood of creating meaningful change on campus

3. Pressure = a strategic approach of applying systematic force through various tactics designed to create social and/or institutional discomfort that compels decision-makers to address activists' demands or risk negative consequences. The goal is to create a complex set of social, professional, and institutional consequences that make addressing the activists' demands the most rational path forward for the administration.

   
   

   Key characteristics of pressure in this context include:

   • Creating public visibility around an issue

   • Generating potential reputational or financial risks for the institution

   • Mobilizing collective action to amplify a message

   • Making continued inaction more difficult or costly than implementing requested changes

The role of post-secondary institutions is to create a safe environment where students can learn, grow, and hopefully prepare for the future, whichever path(s) they may choose to take. Most campus student activists find a lot of meaning in the work they do, but it carries a significant emotional and personal toll. Having read through the common strategies outlined above, think about how vulnerable you might feel as a student, having to persuade, put pressure on, and sometimes come together with others to oppose your administration. The people in charge of your degree (sometimes your housing, food, etc.) and often your future.

It can also be incredibly disheartening work for activists who are survivors, as they are fighting for basic support, respect, and rights from the institution – the place they are supposed to trust to create safe and respectful learning environments. Seeing decision-makers, administrators, faculty, and staff dismiss sexual violence time and time again takes a large toll on activists, and especially those who have experienced sexual violence on campus themselves.

It's past time for campuses to start hearing activists and trusting that their experiences as students are what is needed to address the real-time issues institutions are facing. Having students sit on your Sexual Violence Policy Review Committee, on Student Life Committees, allow them to submit anonymous feedback about resources and initiatives available on campus, are all good ways to start. However, student involvement should be led by students. Ask activists on campus where they feel they can have a strong impact, or where student voices are missing on your campus.

Student activists are the experts, and we need to start trusting them.

Recommended Resources:

What is Currently Understood About the Impact of Sexual Violence Activism for Higher Education Student Sexual Violence Survivors? By Helen Bovill and Tessa Podpadec. In Trauma, Violence, and Abuse. May 2022. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10486178/.

Voices of Campus Sexual Violence Activists: #MeToo and Beyond. By Ana M. Martínez-Alemán and Susan B. Marine. 2023. https://muse.jhu.edu/book/110671

This Wasn't on the Syllabus: Stories from the Frontlines. By Addy Strickland and Emma Kuzmyk. 2024. https://www.risingactionpublishing.com/books/syllabus

Why is documenting student activism so important? By Benji Nothwehr. 2022. https://www.mcgill.ca/definetheline/article/why-documenting-student-activism-so-important

The Feminist Student News and Protest (SNAP) Archive. https://feministsnaparchive.omeka.net/the-feminist-snap-archive