Villanova targets fall 'Red Zone' with assault prevention push

Villanova University's Title IX Office is running sexual assault prevention programs during the fall "Red Zone," the high-risk weeks when most campus assaults occur.

The Red Zone stretches from the start of the semester through Thanksgiving break, a six- to ten-week window that accounts for more than half of campus sexual assaults nationwide. Female-identifying and first-year students face the highest risk, The Villanovan reported Thursday, Sept. 10.

Villanova's fall 2024 Student Sexual Violence Climate Survey, completed by 1,478 undergraduates, found that 14.7% of cisgender women and 3.2% of cisgender men who responded had experienced sexual assault since becoming students. The university's caregiver guide breaks the numbers down further: 82% of assaults involved people who knew each other. Alcohol or other drugs were present in more than 85% of incidents. And 52.5% occurred on campus.

Nine percent told no one.

Title IX Coordinator Ryan Rost and Deputy Title IX Coordinator Shannon Barnett are leading the office's Red Zone response. It includes bystander-intervention training and risk-reduction workshops run with the Office for Health Promotion, Public Safety and other campus partners. All incoming undergraduates must also complete an online Sexual Assault Prevention for Undergraduates (SAPU) course before arriving on campus.

Rost stressed that risk-reduction advice is not about blaming victims. "If I leave my car unlocked, I am not reducing my risk that somebody might steal something from my car," she told The Villanovan. "But if somebody chooses to steal something from my car, that's on them, not on me."

Both coordinators emphasized the buddy system as a core strategy. Barnett said groups should arrive and leave together, and urged students to check in on anyone who looks uncomfortable, whether a friend or a stranger.

Rost said the broader goal is changing campus culture. She described the office's work as trying to normalize conversations about consent, healthy relationships, sex and healthy sexuality.

The Title IX Office is in 207 Tolentine Hall. Students can reach Rost at 610-519-8805 and Barnett at 610-519-8804. The university also offers a SAVUR tab on its Nova Now app with links to sexual violence resources.