To celebrate the unique identities of community members and to demonstrate a commitment to a community without violence, Case Western Reserve University is launching a social norming poster campaign featuring students, faculty and staff from across campus.
The social norming posters are a component of a grant the Office of Title IX received from the Ohio Department of Higher Education’s Changing Campus Culture Initiative. Case Western Reserve was one of nine colleges and universities in Ohio awarded a Transforming Campus Climate grant. One of CWRU’s goals for this grant funding is to reiterate university norms against sexual misconduct and personal violence.
“I believe that we all can do something to help prevent violence on campus,” said Naomi Sigg, director of multicultural affairs. “I have been fortunate to be a Green Dot facilitator and to be part of this campaign. I appreciate being able to share my identities and my passion for this work. It is important to see diverse members of our community working together toward a common goal. To see diverse students, faculty, and staff speaking out against violence is powerful. I believe our community appreciates having the ability to know a little bit more about each member in the campaign—their identities, backgrounds and what is important to them.”
The campaign is titled “I am CWRU” and in its first phase, features 10 participants who self-selected identity statements and a community support statement. Every poster features the same closing sentiment: “I am against violence. I am CWRU.”
“During my time at CWRU as a pre-health student, I have come to realize that health and wellness go far beyond just confines of biomedicine; it encompasses every aspect of a person’s life and their experiences,” said student Michael Nguyen, a member of the campaign committee. “I participated in this campaign to help encourage a student culture actively united against violence. This campaign highlights the reality that while the CWRU community is diverse in many aspects, we can undoubtedly stand together against violence.”
Similarly, Gia Adeen, assistant director of the Office of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity said: “I think the campaign is a positive step in bringing more attention to the subject of violence on our campus. By using campus community members for the campaign, it brings attention to the issue of violence in a very CWRU personal way and may make people stop and think.”
Posters in the campaign are being shared across campus and on online platforms, but it is just the beginning of this project.
“It is important that the campaign represents our whole community,” said Ali Martin Scoufield, Title IX investigator and campaign committee member. “Through CWRU Green Dot, we talk about violence being a community issue deserving a community response, like bystander intervention. Violence affects all of us, so while this first set of photographs feature staff, our next set will primarily feature students in addition to faculty and staff.”
The following individuals are featured in the campaign:
- Naomi Sigg;
- Greg Harris;
- Darnell Parker;
- George O’Connell;
- Kevin Lowry;
- Leah Shaw;
- Matt Smith;
- Michael Nguyen; and
- Gia Adeen.
The committee members are:
- Hibat Baghdadi;
- Randy Blackford;
- Greg Harris;
- Jamie Linn;
- Angela Lowery;
- Lisa Mickey;
- Dan Nemeth Neumann;
- Michael Nguyen;
- Nina Pettry;
- Dani Sabo;
- Patricia Sinclair;
- Raymond Utrup; and
- Ali Martin Scoufield.
Randy Blackford, Alec Jokubaitis and Michael Comstock were photographers for the project.
The social norming campaign is recruiting participants for the next phase of this campaign. If you are interested in participating, contact Ali Martin Scoufield at ali.scoufield@case.edu for more information. All CWRU faculty, staff and students are welcome to participate.
In addition to the social norming campaign, the grant funding also was used to:
- Update the bathroom poster series;
- Update online modules;
- Provide additional support around CWRU Green Dot, the university’s bystander intervention program for faculty, staff and students; and
- Offer a training program for Title IX Process advisors.
Learn more about these initiatives.
Email the Office of Title IX at titleix@case.edu for more information.