The University of Windsor is taking a lead role in trying to prevent sexual assaults on Canadian campuses, according to Charlene Senn.

“We are doing something truly unique here,” says Dr. Senn, a professor of psychology and women’s studies, who will deliver a talk on the subject this afternoon.

Senn was referring to the Bystander Initiative, a workshop that teaches both men and women about how to prevent sexual assaults before they occur. The three-hour workshop was taught to about 300 second-year psychology and criminology students last fall, while two upper-level, full-term courses offered by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences prepare potential facilitators on how to teach the workshop to others.

“We’re the only ones in North America building this into our curriculum,” says Senn. “We’re the first ones to bring this workshop into Canada, and the first ones to institutionalize it as part of our curriculum.”

The workshop, which will be offered again next fall, helps participants better understand the impact sexual assault has on victims, provides them with skills on how to effectively intervene, and helps them realize the consequences if they don’t take action to help prevent assaults from occurring. Senn credited colleague Anne Forrest, director of the women’s studies program, with being instrumental in getting the material incorporated into the university’s curriculum.

“This has the potential to create a lot of change, because it really affects everyone,” she said.

Besides offering the program, Senn and her colleagues are also concurrently conducting research on it in order to measure its effectiveness. Ultimately, she hopes it will reach a wider audience and reduce the number of assaults that occur on Canadian campuses.

According to a highly cited 2000 study by Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes for the U.S. Department of Justice, one in five women reported having been raped in their lifetime. The figure jumps to about one in four on university campuses, according to Senn, who attributed the increase to the fact there’s a higher concentration of women within the age group that are typically assaulted.

“The statistics here are about the same as any other Canadian campus,” she said.

As part of the Humanities Research Group’s 2012-13 Martin Wesley Series, Senn will deliver a public lecture called Sexual Assault is Happening Here: Research Translating Knowledge Into Campus Interventions. The talk will be held at 4 p.m. today in the McPherson Lounge at Alumni Hall. A reception will follow the lecture.