Trainings Approved by Diversity Initiatives Committee

 

Emerging Leaders Retreat

 

Recognizing the need to assist students early in their careers at Allegheny, the Emerging Leaders Retreat (ELR) was created in 1999 to encourage first-year students to develop leadership skills. It has become a crucial piece of the leadership program and an excellent stepping-stone for first year students to get connected with the greater Allegheny community. The overnight retreat takes place prior to the start of Spring Semester each January. ELR seeks to equip students with campus resources, peer and professional mentors, and leadership skills to better guide their college career.

 

Contact Marchae Peters mpeters@allegheny.edu for more information

 

Collegiate Leadership Conference (CLC)

 

The Collegiate Leadership Conference (CLC) is an intensive five-day leadership and personal development experience that takes place each August. Approximately 60 Allegheny students participate in a variety of leadership activities and discussions.

These activities and discussions are based on the themes self, community, and impact, and combines theoretical models including the social change and servant leader models of leadership with practical activities and discussions to maximize opportunities for experiential leadership.

Topics of discussion include self-awareness and values clarification, civility, globalization issues, and impacting the Allegheny and surrounding communities.

All of our activities are participatory, and students are an active part of team challenges and group problem-solving exercises. Students do not need to hold a leadership position in order to apply – the conference focuses on developing student’s leadership interests. It is an excellent opportunity to spend time with other Allegheny students and community members to talk about the issues that are important to each attendee.

The conference takes place at McKeever Environmental Center in Sandy Lake, PA. The program is balanced to include time for physical recreation, social activities, and personal reflection. No previous experience with leadership or camping is necessary. Each year, we strive to assemble a diverse team of students who represent a wide variety of activities and interests.

There is no fee for attending CLC.

 

Contact Marchae Peters mpeters@allegheny.edu for more information

 

Gator Safe Zone Training (These are three different trainings)

 

The Safe Zone Program at Allegheny College consists of three primary opportunities to engage in discussion with members of the Allegheny community. Based on recommendations from a recent campus climate survey led by Rankin and Associates (2009), a three track Safe Zone program has been designed to allow individuals to gain valuable resources and knowledge over time while creating supportive networks for all identities across our campus. After completing levels one and two, a total of six hours of training, participants are eligible to select to be a member of Safe Zone and receive a Gator Safe Zone card to display.

What is a Gator Safe Zone Ally?

An ally is an individual who works to end oppression personally and professionally through support and advocacy of an oppressed population, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities.  Allies may be prompted to action because they are alarmed at the pervasive negative attitudes towards LGBTQ people in a heterosexist and gendered society. Although the term ally is most often used to refer to heterosexual allies, we include LGBTQ individuals who actively support the needs of their community in our definition of a Gator Safe Zone ally.

Training 1 – Developing a Common Understanding

This two-hour session focuses on understanding key terms and the impact of language as they relate to gender, sexuality, and individual identities. This first track helps participants clarify their own attitudes and beliefs about homophobia & transphobia while also identifying examples of heterosexism & privilege. This track aims to assist participants in understanding how the stated objectives relate to your own role on campus. Individuals who participate in track one have the option to continue to track two.

Training 2 – Ally-Building

Track two is a four-hour session that explores models of identity development for LGBTQ communities and/or individuals as well as the development of Allies. Participants have the opportunity to practice and explore their own skills as an Ally to LGBTQ communities. At the end of this session, participants may select to become Safe Zone members and receive a Gator Safe Zone card posted with the date of the member’s completion of track two.

Training 3 – Dialogues   

The third track consists of a series of one-hour conversations exploring the complex web of oppression on individual, institutional, and systemic levels in the United States. These sessions are facilitated by members of the Allegheny community as well as individuals invested in working for equity and justice regionally and nationally.

Updating your Gator Safe Zone Card

As the 3-track model is rolled out at Allegheny, Safe Zone members trained through previous models can select to have their Gator Safe Zone card updated by attending a track 1 and track 2 session. After completing track 2, the card is then stamped with a date. All recipients of the Gator Safe Zone card via the 3-track model will also receive a dated Gator Safe Zone card upon selecting to be a Gator Safe Zone after their 6th hour of training. All members can choose to attend future sessions to update their card and receive additional dated stamps indicating their ongoing training and investment in discussion issues and experiences related to gender and sexuality.

 

Contact valerie guerrero vguerrero@allegheny.edu for more information

 

Bringing in the Bystander Training

 

Bringing in the Bystander™ is a sexual violence prevention program aimed at increasing, among potential bystanders and third-person witnesses, prosocial attitudes and behaviors toward and awareness of risky behaviors and precursors to sexual victimization. It also aims to increase empathy and awareness of the problems experienced by those victimized by sexual and intimate partner violence.

The program emphasizes that all members of the community have a role to play in preventing sexual and intimate partner violence. Bringing in the Bystander is often implemented in a university campus setting to college students. College-age students are part of a population whose age group and environmental setting would expose them to potential sexual and intimate partner violence bystander situations.

Program Components/Key Personnel
The Bringing in the Bystander program is implemented one 90-minute session. The program’s content is made up of several elements that work to increase awareness of sexual and intimate partner violence and to promote prosocial attitudes and behaviors aimed at preventing and intervening in such instances:

• Information about sexual and intimate partner violence prevalence, causes, and consequences, including local examples and statistics

• The introduction of the concept of bystander responsibility and the role they can play in preventing sexual and intimate partner violence in risky situations

• Active exercises (e.g., role playing) to practice intervening safely and to support victims

• Information about personal safety and availability of community resources

• A bystander pledge to being prosocial and active bystanders in their community

The program is administered by professional co-facilitators or by peer facilitators trained in the program who lead discussions and exercises and deliver the intervention. The facilitators include both male and female professionals or students who have some leadership and facilitation experience and an expressed interest in preventing sexual violence. They are trained in two three-hour sessions. The facilitators work in male–female pairs to deliver the program to single-sex groups. During training, facilitators receive information on the program and how it differs from other types of interventions, as well as guidelines on how to deliver the curriculum successfully.

Program Theory
Theories of community responsibility and bystander behavior emphasize the importance of a larger community response toward preventing sexual and intimate partner violence. The program focuses on expanding this awareness to the larger community by not solely focusing on intervening on potential victims or perpetrators. Instead, the program provides groups of individuals in the community with the skills and knowledge to intervene by interrupting situations before or during an incident, speaking out against social norms supportive of sexual and intimate partner violence, and being an ally of those victimized.

 

Contact Jacquie Kondrot jkondrot@allegheny.edu for more information