On April 26th, I was able to attend the mini-seminar series that pertained to bystander intervention. We watched multiple scenarios which are could be ideal for a bystander. The first was a potential sexual assault, which was interesting to see because there was a man who was trying to take a girl who was way too inebriated upstairs. A group of her friends saw this and came to divide both of the people to stop something from potentially escalating. The second scenario was a girl of a different race than her friends being denied access into a party by one of the brother’s whose fraternity was throwing the party. The friends decided to leave the party instead of going in. Third, was a hazing situation in which a roommate sacrificed his sleep to console his shaken up roommate who came in late. Fourth, was a person struggling with an academic program, because they were not doing well and started questioning their ability to do their program. Another person overheard their strife and decided to talk to them, and was gave them advice to ask for help. Another was that a person, came to a party and drank way too much, they ended up blacking out. Their friends were wondering what to because they didn’t want to ruin the party, but eventually they called 911 because their could have been dire consequences.
All these scenarios were very realistic. What I learned was don’t stand around and expect to something to happen, when you have the opportunity to, because you never know what can happen.
Unfortunately, being a bystander can drastically affect people’s lives. There are too many problems, especially in fraternities, that people are afraid to report. I remember a kid from Penn State who died because students were afraid to report that he passed out. This is why I think the “good samaritan” program is great, as people do not get in trouble and lives are ultimately saved.
being a member of Greek life, I too have gone through bystander seminars. People always think “someone else will handle it” but when you have a room of everyone thinking this no action is taken. I have the first-hand experience of a close friend of mine making the decision of calling 911 being a good Samaritan, and only good came out of that. The person he called for was able to get the proper medical attention and was okay.