greatdegree / flickr
The Obama administration's "It's On Us" campaign is getting traction on college campuses around the country, including Ohio.The public awareness initiative aims to end sexual assaults on college campuses, in part by encouraging students to get involved when they see it happening.Student leaders at ten colleges in Ohio, and nearly 200 nationwide, have pledged to become a part the campaign.[audio href=http://audio2.ideastream.org/wcpn/2014/0923siouc.mp3" title="Listen to the Radio Story"][/audio]One of those schools is the University of Cincinnati, where Vice President for Student Affairs and Services Debra Merchant says the college is working with student leaders as it moves forward to figure out ways to curb sexual assaults on campus.“On our campus, we often say the students will lead us, and so they’ve been good partners in insuring we are engaging in the right strategies for this student body,” said Merchant.One strategy is to develop what they’re calling bystander training that would be mandatory for all students.Merchant said the training will help students learn to identify situations where sexual assault could occur, and encourage ways to safely intervene on behalf of someone else.“If you see something, say something,” she said. “Step in for a friend, a peer, before it’s too late. And so that’s at the core of bystander training, getting everybody involved in making the campus safer.”The university plans to fully roll out the bystander training program by next fall.Other schools, including Kent State and its Green Dot project, have already implemented similar programming.