The Avon Foundation for Women has awarded Kalamazoo College a $5,000 grant to promote healthy sexual relationships on campus.  The grant will allow K to begin training in the Green Dot Campaign.

The Green Dot Campaign is a new way to help prevent sexual assault. The program is designed to teach bystanders and peers how to help intervene in an unsafe situation.

Deb Rose, one of K’s counseling psychologists, applied for the grant last summer. She will be attending a training course  this summer, where she will learn how to use the Green Dot strategy and how to teach it to groups and student organizations on campus.

Dean Sarah Westfall said, “National data suggests that on college campuses sexual assault is widely under reported. I think it is true at K as well. No one wants that. The Green Dot Campaign looks at what tools are already available. It makes a lot of sense.”

Dean Westfall hopes to keep the campaign going year round with informative training sessions for everyone, not just student organizations. “The more people who know the program, the better for everyone,” said Westfall.