Sexual Violence Response's (SVR) Assistant Director of Training and Prevention Debjani Roy was interviewed last year for an article published in Women's Running magazine centered on reframing the conversation around run safety for women.
The article, "The State of Run Safety in 2020" reads in part:
"Similarly, the Sexual Violence Response program (which also serves as a New York City rape crisis center) at Columbia University in New York provides mandatory bystander intervention training to all university students. This programming aims to help participants understand the ways in which power and control manifests physically, mentally and emotionally, dynamics which come into play with running and utilizing public spaces comfortably, says Debjani Roy, assistant director of training and prevention for the SVR program.
“'It’s important to recognize that it’s not necessarily an individual’s responsibility to protect themselves from an attack, but it is indeed the responsibility of communities to speak up and intervene in some shape or form,” Roy says.
"Although Columbia’s SVR team offers similar programming to the public during awareness months like April, which is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Roy noted that there are a number of ways people can promote community violence prevention education in their communities, such as by communicating and working with local organizations or elected officials, or even gathering a group of friends with an invited speaker."
Visit womensrunning.com to read the full article.