PEACE OUTside Campus

PODCAST: Listen to Kathleen's Story of Grief, Loss, Recovery & Healing

7/24/2021

PEACE OUTside Campus Co-Founder and Vice Chairperson, Kathleen Bonistall, speaks about the loss of her daughter Lindsey to a violent crime while in college, which inspired the family to establish PEACE OUTside Campus, The Lindsey M. Bonistall Foundation for the purpose of advocating student safety. Kathleen recounts her personal journey of grief, loss, recovery and healing, in the hope of inspiring others to connect to support services, advocate for student safety, and practice compassion and understanding for those enduring the complexities of grief and loss due to violent crime.

Please note that this podcast includes difficult language, such as sexual assault and homicide, which may be difficult for some listeners to hear. We encourage you to do what’s right for you, even if that means saving this episode for a time when it feels healthier to listen. We hope you will utilize the links and helpful resources provided on our website click here and urge you not to suffer in silence if you are a victim of sexual assault or have lost a loved one due to violence.

This podcast is hosted by the Mental Health Association of Westchester where Kathleen serves as a program director. (www.mhawestchester.org).

Listen to the podcast at: surfacing.buzzsprout.com/1648633/8795399?fbclid=IwAR1Cwwy5vKv3Y-AlrgZMJXPzOAVOglHce6YikQchY4FE_Id9lMHtHNianKU

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Update from LMB Research Fellow, RaeAnn, on Her Research!

2/28/2021

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Covid hasn't slowed down our 2020 Lindsey M. Bonistall Research Fellow down at all. Read this update from her and her team!

The Research: Empowering indigenous college women to stop rape: A treatment development study
Considering the entire US population of women, approximately 1 in 5 women will experience rape. This number is much higher for some, such as Indigenous women. Because of the large number of women who experience rape in the US; there are more women with rape-related posttraumatic stress disorder in the United States than there are veterans with war-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Thus, this project seeks to explore how to incorporate Indigenous culture and traditions into self-defense programs to reduce the risk of rape for Indigenous women. (Dr. RaeAnn Anderson)

"Since we selected this project in September 2020, the project team has expanded to include graduate and undergraduate students mentored by Dr. Anderson and her research partner, Dr. Cole. These students include members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and Dakota, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and the Mvskoke Nation. In October 2020, the team received a grant from the state of North Dakota to expand the study to include a survey of Indigenous college students across the states of North Dakota and Oklahoma on what they think is needed in rape reduction programs. An Indigenous artist has been engaged to produce the study flyer. A key hurdle was recently cleared when IRB approval to collect the survey data was granted. The research team is well on their way to gathering data, in spite of the the COVID-19 pandemic! Thank you for all the support."

Learn more about RaeAnn's project and our fellowship at peaceoutsidecampus.org/fellowship

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#MeToo and Female Students with Disabilities

10/19/2019

By Margaret Campe
2019 Lindsey M. Bonistall Research Fellow

For the past ten years Margaret Campe has been working to prevent and respond to violence against women through her academic and professional endeavors. Margaret earned her Master of Arts in Criminology from the University of Minnesota in 2010. Afterwards, she spent five years working under two different Department of Justice Offices for Research on Violence Against Women Grants in Oregon and Minnesota aimed at improving community response and prevention of violence against women.

In 2015, Margaret moved to the University of Kentucky to pursue her PhD in Sociology focusing again on prevention and intervention of violence against women. Margaret is using the Lindsey M. Bonistall Research Fellowship Award to enhance her dissertation research which is focused on gleaning a more nuanced understanding of risk and protective factors related to college campus sexual assault. Margaret’s intent with her research is to provide tangible policy recommendations for prevention and intervention of college campus sexual violence.

Margaret's research was recently published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence and she was invited to presented her research for the Disability Division of The Society for the Study of Social Problems.

The #MeToo movement has provided momentum for bringing the topic of sexual assault and sexual harassment into the public discourse. The potency with which these topics are being discussed is heartening to those who have been working to uncover, prevent, and ultimately end gender-based violence through research, advocacy, and grassroots activism. While the broad reaching media coverage, and renewed energy to develop public policy that addresses gender-based violence seems to have gained steam within the past five years or so, the problem of sexual violence, including college campus sexual assault, is not new. In fact, there is about four decades worth of studies that have underscored college campus sexual assault as a widespread problem. Studies have shown that 1 in 5 college women will experience college campus sexual assault before their collegiate career concludes (Krebs et al., 2007).

Although twenty percent of women being sexually assaulted while in college warrants attention, there are other groups that are at even higher risk. Female students with disabilities are one such group. My recent research shows that female students with disabilities have odds 96% higher than those of female students without disabilities. That number goes up when looking at the type of sexual assault. Female students with disabilities are at 134% higher risk for experiencing a completed sexual assault, 103% higher risk for experiencing an attempted sexual assault, and 122% higher risk for experiencing a relationship sexual assault. These numbers underscore that while the largest category of students at disproportionate risk for experiencing sexual assault may be female students, female students who occupy a more marginalized identity due to their having a disability are actually at higher risk.

Disability status is a broad category, and knowing that female students with disabilities are at increased risk overall is a good start, but depending the disability the student’s lived experiences may be vastly different. I decided to breakdown the disabilities by type, and found that those with cognitive disabilities seemed to be accounting for most of the disproportionate risk among students with disabilities. However, psychiatric disabilities was the only disability type in increase risk across all types of sexual assault, completed, attempted, and relationship.

Some risk factors beyond being female are that are also frequently referenced, is alcohol consumption, substance use, and Greek involvement. As such, I wanted to explore whether or not these factors also increased risk for female students with disabilities. I found that although frequent alcohol use, binge drinking, and marijuana use did increase the risk for sexual assault of females with disabilities, it did so to a lesser extent than with female students without disabilities. This finding suggests factors that compound the risk for sexual assault in the female student population may be different for female students that also have disabilities.

So, we know that female students with disabilities are at increased risk compared to female students without, and we have a little clarity on what types of disabilities might be accounting for this, but why does it matter? After all, if prevention and intervention programming acknowledges female students overall are at increased risk, then won’t those programs also catch female students with disabilities? Well, unfortunately, we also know that people with disabilities are less likely to access advocacy resources or other services that can help with prevention education, and provide needed resources and response in the event of a sexual assault. Moreover, if those with disabilities do help-seek, they often report that services were inaccessible, or unhelpful for their needs (Hassouney-Phillips & McNeff, 2005; Milberger et al., 2003; Nosek et al., 2001; Plummer & Findley, 2012). Therefore, these female students with disabilities are more likely to fall through the cracks when it comes to prevention and intervention, as well as response. Also, we have some evidence suggesting that other risk factors for female students with disabilities may be different, and as such prevention and intervention approaches may need to be curated differently.

My research suggests that campus resource offices, specifically disability resource centers, counseling centers, violence prevention centers, and health and wellness centers should form partnerships to address this gap. This type of collaboration could increase the chances that students with disabilities who are victims of sexual assault will know what resources are available or be referred to appropriate resources. In addition, working with disabilities services may help violence prevention and intervention centers or programs tailor their responses to victims with disabilities in a more helpful, appropriate, and accessible manner. Moreover, the chances that spreading prevention resources and crafting prevention education such that it reaches students with disabilities, may be increased through these types of partnerships.

The increased energy around the topic of sexual violence is encouraging, but asking critical questions about which people are being studied, and whose assaults are being addressed is imperative for the continued improvement of prevention and response.

For the full research paper visit: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0886260519840405. If you do not have access to this journal through your institutional affiliation, you may email Margaret for a copy.

Join PEACE OUTside Campus on 12.1.15 for #GivingTuesday

11/17/2015

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PEACE OUTside Campus PSA coming January 2016!

11/11/2015

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November 11, 2015 - Lights! Camera! Action! Teens 'N Transition interns were put in front of the spotlight last night to begin filming for our very first public service announcement. With the filming talents of Christine Angiello, a past Teens 'N Transition intern and friend of Lindsey, interns were asked a series of questions about why they chose to be a part of PEACE OUTside Campus. Interns spoke openly and candidly about their own experiences while away at college. They shared what they didn't know, what they wished they knew, and what they hope high school students take away after hearing the Teens 'N Transition presentation.

Filming will continue throughout November and December with a January 2016 release date. Look out for more images and clips from our PSA to come!

PEACE OUT!

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"A Season of Giving" #GIvePeace #GivingTuesday

11/10/2015

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PEACE OUTside Campus joins the Global #GivingTuesday Movement
Pledges to advocate student safety and promote peaceful and safe living environments in college communities.

Elmsford, New York (November 5,2015) - PEACE OUTside Campus, The Lindsey M. Bonistall Foundation has joined #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities, and organizations to encourage philanthropy and to celebrate generosity worldwide. Occurring this year on December 1, #GivingTuesday is held annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday to kick-off the holiday giving season. It is with hope that #GivingTuesday will inspire people to collaborate in improving their local communities and to give back in impactful ways to the causes they support.

PEACE OUTside Campus’ #GivingTuesday campaign celebrates “A Season of Giving.” Our wish is to #GivePeace and continue our mission of advocating for student safety and promoting peaceful and safe living environments in college communities. “We are pleased that leaders like Governor Cuomo are declaring that ‘Enough is Enough’ in regards to sexual assault, but more needs to be done,” states Kathleen Cooney Bonistall, co-founder of PEACE OUTside Campus. “Sexual assault is just one of many safety issues like hazing, unsafe living conditions, drug and alcohol abuse, and dating violence that are robbing our students of the safety they deserve,” continued Bonistall.

For this New Year, it is our goal to reach thirty high schools in the Spring of 2016 through our Teens ‘N Transition (TNT) and Identify The Risk (ITR) programs. Since 2005, PEACE OUTside Campus has forever impacted the lives of over 10,000 students and their families with our message of student safety. It is our hope that we can continue to #GivePeace and impact the lives of even more students as they prepare to go off to college.

So after your Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping, join the movement and bring about real change in our local community. Help PEACE OUTside Campus #GivePeace on December 1st!

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YWCA's Fall Symposium: Combating Sexual Assault On College Campuses

10/30/2015

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PEACE OUTside Campus was a panel member at the YWCA’s Fall Symposium “Combating Sexual Assault On College Campuses” on Monday, October 26th, 2015. There were over 70 individuals in attendance, including: students, parents, college and university administrators, organizations, and local, state and national government officials to discuss the current state of Sexual Assault on College Campuses. Panelists included:

Kitley S. Covill, Esq., Board Co-President YWCA White Plains and Central Westchester
Cynthia Markus-Jones, University Police Inspector SUNY Purchase
Elise Murphy, Program Director PEACE OUTside Campus, The Lindsey M. Bonistall Foundation
Carol Robles-Roman, President/CEO Legal Momentum
Monica Sobrin, Student/Representative Fordham University and Students United for Safer Schools

The Facts:

1 in 4 women experience sexual assault in college
1 in 16 men experience sexual assault while in college.
Among nearly 9 out of 10 college women who are raped know their attacker
90% of campus rapes are perpetrated by repeat offenders
Between 80-905 of rape and sexual assault victimizations of students go unreported to police. However, in two-thirds of the incidents the victim did tell another person, usually a friend, not family or school officials.

Discussion included:

“Enough is Enough” legislation – What NY is doing to be at the forefront of Sexual Assault Prevention and Accountability
Title IX Rights and Responsibilities of College and Universities
Importance of early education and discuss of sexual assault before college - California law requiring consent and sexual violence prevention education in high school
The role alcohol and sexual assault

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Teens 'N Transition & Identify The Risk Fall 2015 Season Is Right Around the Corner....

10/8/2015

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Training is underway for the Fall 2015 Teens 'N Transition program leaders. This season, POC has brought together 11 college students representing 1 mission: student safety. TNT program leaders range from Freshman to Seniors and come from Iona College, Manhattanville College, Pace University, and Purchase College. All with different backgrounds and different stories, our fall interns can't wait to share what they've learned at college and look forward to passing along crucial information to high school students this fall. We are very excited about this presentation season!

Prior to presenting, all interns must go through an intensive training program. Training begins by learning about Lindsey Marie Bonistall, our Foundation’s namesake. Interns also get to hear from Board Vice-Chair, Kathleen Bonistall, about Lindsey’s legacy and the Foundation. Followed by the background of PEACE OUTside Campus, interns are taught about leading campus safety legislation like the Clery Act, Title IX, and the recent NY "Enough Is Enough" law.

Much of the training is specifically spent learning about our presentation topics, which include: on and off campus living, personal safety, social life, hazing, influence of alcohol, date rape drugs, sexual assault, and dating violence. Interns are also instructed in the art of public speaking.

This season, we are thrilled to have two guest speakers enhance our training program. Clarissa Espinoza, from Victims Assistance Services, will explain the traumatic impact of sexual victimization. Interns will also learn about different types of abusive relationships, how to seek help, and legislation surrounding dating violence from Natalie Sobchak at Pace Women’s Justice Center.

By late October, interns will be well versed in the content and will go through several rounds of mock presentations before presenting in front of the Board of Directors at PEACE OUTside Campus. With the Board’s approval, each intern will be ready to present to area schools.

If you are interested in scheduling a program for your high school or want more information about Teens ‘N Transition, please call 914-428-4411 or email elise@peaceoutsidecampus.org.

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POC Attends The Fearless Conference

10/6/2015

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PEACE OUTside Campus attended The Fearless Conference hosted by The Do Write Campaign and Joyful Heart Foundation on Friday, September 18, 2015 in NYC. The event brought together high school and college students, parents, administrators, law makers, likeminded organizations, and movie producers to discuss Sexual Assault Prevention. Presenters included:

“The Backlog Crisis” - Ilse Knecht, senior Policy and Advocacy Advisor, Joyful Heart Foundation
“The Call to Men” – Ted Bunch, Co-Founder and Director of A Call to Men
“The Call to Students” – Josy Jablons and Meghan Racklin, NYU “The Call to Parents” – Charlotte Poth, The Center for Sexual Assault Crisis Counseling and Education
“The Call to Conversation” – Katie Cappiello and Meg McInerney, SLUT: The Play
“The Call to Action” – Ileana Jimenez, Student Active For Ending Rape (SAFER), Representative Sarah Merrimen, Jessica Buchanan, The Center for Sexual Assault Crisis Counseling and Education, and Jean Bucaria, NOW-NYC

In addition to the guest speakers and discussion based workshops, there was a screening of The Hunting Ground. The Oscar-nominated film is an exposé of rape crimes on U.S. college campuses, their institutional cover-ups, and the devastating toll they take on students and their families written and directed by Kirby Dick and produced by Amy Ziering. Also shown was an introduction to the film India’s Daughter. Directed by Leslee Udwin, the film is based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman who was a physiotherapy student. There was a brief Q&A with Producer Peggy Cafferty and Director Leslee Udwin following the film.

Information to check out:

Callisto is designed to provide a more empowering, transparent, and confidential reporting experience for college sexual assault survivors. Students can fill out an account of an incident online, save the report, and decide if they want to report now or later. Website: https://www.projectcallisto.org/
Amnesty Policies at colleges/universities – (similar to the Good Samaritan Policy) students cannot be punished for use of illegal drugs/underage drinking/etc while reporting sexual assault. Check to see if your campus has an Amnesty Policy!
Better Sex Talk - http://www.bstcampaign.org/
End the Backlog - http://endthebacklog.org/ Information and alerts regarding rape kit backlogs.

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POC presents at Town & Gown Summit

6/26/2015

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PEACE OUTside Campus presented at a regional International Town & Gown Summit on Student Housing and Safety at The University at Buffalo on Friday, June 26, 2015. The event gathered together city administrators, college administrators, city police, campus security, private and public foundations with a singular mission to focus on increasing safety for students in their off campus housing.

Beth Bagwell, Dan Ryan, Kristen Bonistall, Elise Murphy

The summit started off with Jennifer Abelson, an Investigative Reporter from the Boston Globe, whose series called Shadow Campus was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. This series exposed the unsafe and illegal housing conditions in which many students in Boston are being forced to live. Inspired by the death of Binland Lee, a Boston University senior who died in 2013 after being trapped in the attic of her off campus apartment, the team began investigating the living conditions of thousands of students living off campus. What they found was a pattern of building code violations, hazardous living conditions, slum landlords, illegal rooms, and extremely high rent. For more information about Shadow Campus, click here.

POC Board Member and Co-Founder, Kristen Bonistall, and Staff Members, Elise Murphy and Kari Blackburn, presented Lindsey's story and PEACE OUTside Campus' own outreach programs, such as the Certified Off Campus Housing Safety Guidelines, College Chapters, Living Off Campus 101, Teens 'N Transition, Identify The Risk, and our Internship program.

Beth Bagwell, Executive Director of the International Town and Gown Association also presented ways in which her organization is helping college administrations combat this issue of student safety. To learn more about International Town and Gown and their vast resources, click here. The summit was capped off with a brainstorming session in which participants came together to discuss best practices and come up with new ideas for everyone to take back to their city, college, or foundation.

Our thanks to Dan Ryan, Off Campus Student Services Director at The University at Buffalo, for hosting the event. Be sure to check out what Dan and UB are doing to keep their students safe, click here.

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