Leadership in Violence Prevention

WMST 290

Applications for Fall 2013 will be released after Spring Break.

Each semester, the Interpersonal Violence Prevention Coordinator teaches a three-credit course through the Women’s Studies Department.  This APPLES service-learning course is an examination of violence and violence prevention, with a particular focus on issues related to men’s violence against women. We will examine violence from individual to structural levels, considering both perpetrators and victims. We will address questions such as: What kind of societal conditions enable violence? How are forms of oppression and violence related to each other? How are campuses and communities reacting to and working to prevent violence?

This course trains students to educate their peers about issues of interpersonal violence including sexual and relationship violence and stalking. Particular focus will be paid to strategies of intervention and prevention. Students will train as peer educators and have an opportunity to discuss their effectiveness while learning from their classmates and providing each other with constructive feedback. At the end of this course, students will have developed their facilitation skills, identified skill areas of strength and those that need improvement, developed a broad knowledge base about violence, and identified opportunities for peer education, both formally and informally.

As part of their service-learning for the course, students may train to facilitate One Act, a peer education training program that deals with issues of interpersonal violence, particularly relationship violence, sexual assault, stalking, and the role of bystanders in working against violence. These presentations will be geared to all student groups at UNC, including residence halls, fraternities, athletic teams, and any other campus group who will listen.

Ideal peer educator candidates are students who are

1. Strong public speakers, 
2. Relate well to diverse students, and 
3. Are sensitive to issues of interpersonal violence, particularly violence against women. 

Ideally, applicants will be sophomores or juniors but exceptional first year students will also be considered. We hope the diversity of the peer educators will match the rich diversity of our campus community.

NOTE: Students must contact the instructor and apply for this course. The professor will register students selected for the class. Please email Bob Pleasants at bpleas@email.unc.edu with questions, applications, or interest in future sections of this course.