Bystander Intervention Campaign
“Stand for State” is a Penn State campaign to reduce harm on our campuses. The faculty, staff, and students at Penn State Wilkes-Barre are committed to eliminating or reducing the instances of power-based personal violence within our living and learning community by being responsible bystanders. We are a community that believes in the sharing of responsibility to take action to maintain a safe environment for all of our members. We stand together in support of a harassment-free and violence-free educational environment where all are respected.
“Stand for State” focuses on prevention and intervention. We address events or actions that cause harm or personal damage to someone; including words or gestures that intimidate or threaten. We hope to create positive actions that prevent or counter negative actions. Our goal is to provide solutions that reduce violence and harm to others when we make a choice to act individually or collectively to eliminate damaging behavior.
Stand for State with Penn State Wilkes-Barre
When you witness behavior that you feel is threatening the safety or personal well-being of another member of our Penn State Wilkes-Barre family, we encourage you to do the following:
- Direct – Do something yourself. Speak up for the individual or check in with the individual to insure their safety.
- Delegate – Ask for help from someone else so that they can take direct action. Some campus resources to consider would be the Director of Student Services or Campus Police & Public Safety.
- Distract – If you do not want to address the situation directly, create a distraction that can defuse the situation. Some distraction tactics are spilling a drink or starting a conversation to interrupt negative attention or action towards another person.