September 13, 2012
All Hamilton varsity student-athletes and coaches gathered in the Scott Field House on Monday, September 10, to participate in the Bystander Intervention Program, Step Up!
The program, created at the University of Arizona with help from the NCAA, is “a pro-social behavior and bystander intervention program that educates students to be proactive in helping others.”
Dr. Scott Goldman, director of Clinical and Sport Psychology for the University of Arizona’s athletic department and a strong supporter of the program, took the microphone after a warm introduction from Hamilton Athletic Director John Hind.
Dr. Goldman started off the night by volunteering a student-athlete named Sarah to the front of the room. He asked the crowd to stand up if they directly knew Sarah, then asking for everyone to stand if they knew one of Sarah’s friends. About 99 percent of the room was found standing, instantly connecting all the students. The purpose of the exercise was to inform students that as a community, we must always be on the lookout for each other.
“As humans,” Dr. Goldman believes, “we choose to avoid situations all the time.”
Psychology explains why people do not step up in group situations. People believe others will do something, yet that is not always the case. Dr. Goldman showed a video that NBC’s Today Show put together in which a young girl screams out “you’re not my dad, stop!” while a man pulls on her arm in the middle of the city. Pedestrians walk right by, thinking someone else will deal with the situation. The video led to Dr. Goldman’s shocking point: Most abuse or drug-related problems occur in group settings and in plain sight.
With full attention from the students, Dr. Goldman opened up questions for discussion with a clicker system. The first question asked was what the top three problems in college are. The most popular answers by Hamilton students were alcohol, sexual assault and depression--common answers across the nation according to Dr. Goldman. The physical interaction in the program allowed students to become more connected to its purpose.
One of Dr. Goldman’s most vital messages was the five-step decision making process: notice the event, interpret it as a problem, assume personal responsibility, have the skills to intervene and step up! Dr. Goldman believes that taking personal responsibility for the situation is the key factor in stepping up. Even though one may not know the individual in a potentially dangerous situation, understanding your connection to that person will eliminate the bystander effect.
Once one person helps, more will join. Dr. Goldman illustrated that theory in a video involving a car crash with a motorcycle. An unconscious victim was trapped underneath the car. The video shows one man running into the picture to try and move the car out of the way. Within five seconds, over ten people helped to move the car, eventually retrieving the injured person successfully. At Hamilton, a similar tragic situation can be avoided with just one person deciding to step up.
The reason as to why no one helps can attributed to what Dr. Goldman labels as conformity. Humans in their natural state conform to the rest of the group, becoming less confident with their decisions as the discrepancy increases. Using the Holocaust as an example, Dr. Goldman illustrated how important it is to always do the right thing.
For one student, the assembly provided a eye-opening experience. Abbie Webster ’16 said, “People that let bullies bully might as well be characterized as a bully themselves.” Webster may have realized this when Dr. Goldman told a story about the death of a woman after a light bumper-to-bumper accident. After a young woman hit a man’s car in still traffic on a bridge, he bashed her windshield with a crowbar and put her in a sticky situation: face the man who weighed over 200 pounds more than her, or jump off the bridge. She decided to jump of the bridge yet did not know how to swim, dying in the process. The interesting fact is that there were hundreds of people surrounding the accident, yet no one tried to help her. “The fact that nobody answered her pleas is disturbing and that alone, will inspire me in the future to step up,” said Webster.
Colleges across the nation are becoming a part of the program to decrease sexual assault and violence on campuses. Every year, there are hazing, rape and drug cases. Addressing the students of Hamilton College, Dr. Goldman said, “It’s no longer acceptable to do nothing.”