Initiative aims to make Aggies more alert and safe on campus
The Think, Care, Act Initiative, going into effect this year, is designed to make Utah State University a safer community for students, faculty and staff.
The initiative was designed and put into effect by the Student Engagement Subcommittee, whose charge was to build new programs and initiatives to help students in- and outside the classroom and to continue work in other successful programs.
Noelle Call, director of retention and student success, said the initiative was brought to the committee by a student who had visited the University of Vermont, and had seen numerous posters on and around campus. Call said the program at UVM was not developed far beyond the posters.
“We have taken it much, much further than they ever have,” she said.
After receiving permission from UVM to use the program and ideas, a committee was created with representatives from various areas on campus, such as SOAR, ASUSU, university advising and retention and student success.
Call said the starting point for the initiative was this fall’s incoming freshman class, specifically targeted through Connections, because of the freshman mindset.
“Incoming freshmen want to be a part of the Aggie group, they are looking for a way to be a part of this new community,” she said.
According to the mission statement, written by the committee, the initiative is “designed to introduce Aggies to the social responsibility expected as a member of the Utah State caring community that values human dignity, equality, respect and safety for each individual student, faculty, staff and alumni.”
Call said Connections was such a good starting point because of the number of students the class was able to reach.
Approximately 1,700 freshmen were exposed to the new idea via the class, and Lexi Nielsen is just one of them.
Nielsen, a piano pedagogy major, said the workshop designed around the initiative was interesting and fun.
“They made it really exciting, very upbeat, and told us why it was important to think, care, and act,” she said.
The workshop during connections has previously been used as a way to teach students about Sexual Assault and Anti-Violence info, or SAVVI. The information was conveyed as how to stay safe and alert and how to report and recognize sexual assault and anti-violence.
Call said this year, when they decided to make the initiative an important part of the class, SAVVI head Rachel Brighton revamped the workshop to include former information, but to be centered around Think, Care, Act.
According to the mission statement, the initiative can be broken down quite simply: Think about your words, actions, or silence. Care about other USU community members. Act to promote caring and to end incidents of harm or injustice.
Nielsen said the workshop did a good job of explaining why such things were important.
“They said that doing that would encourage learning and growth throughout campus, and make this a closer community,” she said.
“I think campus is a great place, everyone is friendly and kind, and this just adds to that feeling.”
Call said the committee has other ideas for marketing and teaching more people about the information.
“We have designed a curriculum incorporating the initiative for the classroom, we’re working with housing and the Greek system as well, to really get the idea out in the community,” she said.
The mission statement also included a statement on what the main goal of introducing the initiative.
“The greatest challenge is to more effectively help students make better individual decisions about the activities they choose to engage in, and the culture they collectively shape,” it reads.
Incorporating those three simple words into the community at USU will take time and work, Call said. It will take more than one year, most likely a few.
“I would like to be able to say that in two years it will be in effect all over campus, but it will probably take more like four or five,” she said.
–april.ashland@aggiemail.usu.edu