MARQUETTE, MI-- NMU has received more than $19,000 through the State of Michigan Campus Sexual Assault Grant Program.
The money will support a program called Empowering the Confidant. The initiative helps students respond when a friend, roommate, or another student discloses an incident of sexual misconduct. Associate Dean of Students Mary Brundage says sexual assault survivors are either helped or hurt by how their friends respond.
Next semester NMU will survey students to determine how many were the recipient of a sexual assault disclosure. It will also ask what information would have been helpful in that situation.
Short videos with student actors will be produced. One will depict healthy versus non-healthy relationships and another what the student wishes they would have known. The videos will become a standard component of orientation and the freshman seminar.