The Washington University Rape and Sexual Violence Prevention Center has pledged to train all sophomores living in Residential Life housing in relationship violence prevention through a new online program entitled Stand By Me.

The Blackboard-based project will launch during the first week of classes and remain open until Sept. 20. Run in conjunction with past Rape and Sexual Violence Prevention (RSVP) Center-backed programs—like Green Dot bystander intervention training and the It’s On Us program—the new project will focus on aspects of relationship—rather than solely sexual—violence. Additionally, it hopes to continue discussions regarding violence past the first year of college.

The program is required for sophomores living in Washington University ResLife housing, but allows students who feel triggered by the material to opt out.

Austin Sweeney, sexual and relationship violence prevention specialist, said the program was planned in response to the more serious relationships that students tend to form after their first year.

“First year students see The Date and #RewindBlurredLines, which really focus on the topics of sexual violence prevention, and knowing that our mission in the RSVP Center is to address both sexual and relationship violence, we wanted a program that really focused in on that,” Sweeney said. “We also wanted to be intentional about engaging students beyond just the first year…It’s important to us to keep the conversation going, to keep the momentum going.”

To determine the format of the lessons, the RSVP Center staff surveyed students through focus groups, questionnaires and peer education classes on campus. The final product consists of five short scenes with sets of questions and brief commentary by a peer educator. Similar to The Date, a performance piece shown to freshmen students, Stand By Me is student-written, acted and directed.

Stand By Me discusses content not covered in Green Dot or Leaders in Interpersonal Violence Education (LIVE) training and represents a continuation of the conversation from The Date.

“I think for a long time the thought was ‘Oh, we can just do this first year program,’ and then we said ‘Well, why not more? Why can’t we try to move into sophomore year?’” Sweeney said.

After completing the initial online portion, students will discuss the program during one-on-one meetings with their resident advisers. In October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a passive program will be installed in each sophomore dorm hallway. Finally, in February or March, RAs will host floor discussions—rather than informational meetings—to help students process the dynamics shown through the performances.

“The University is doing a lot of great work around sexual assault, but this program also includes a lot of different situations that people might not immediately recognize as problematic,” sophomore Alyssa Hunt said. “I think that the program is important because it considers violence in the context of relationships.”

Next year, the RSVP Center hopes to expand the program to sophomores living in non-ResLife housing.