Sexual Assault on the College Campus

Instructor Name: 
Eden Isenstein
CRN: 
82122
Email: 
Course Description: 

Students in this class will work with the Portland State University Women's Resource Center and their community partners to work towards ending sexual assault. The class will work in teams on projects such as, research, awareness raising/prevention, and fundraising. By the end of the term students will be able to articulate the definitions and dynamics of sexual violence as well as current issues in the field.  Students will also have gained experience and understanding in what it takes to respond to and prevent sexual assault. Please contact Eden Isenstein at eni@pdx.edu for further information.

This Capstone course is designed to engage our learning community in meaningful action with various learning communities within Portland State University through our collaboration with the Women's Resource Center.

The goals for this Capstone are as follows:

  • To provide PSU Capstone students with a personally, academically, professionally, and creatively meaningful service-learning opportunity; and
  • To further the mission of PSU's Women's Resource Center as it works to educate the campus community about sexual assault and its prevention.

The objectives of this Capstone address both course content and the University Studies' goals of communication, critical thinking, appreciation of diversity and social responsibility, and are as follows:

  1. To enhance students' facility and confidence with writing, in particular informational writing and editing;
  2. To increase students' understanding of the dynamics of sexual assault on college campuses and at PSU in particular;
  3. To increase students' interviewing, research, problem solving and organizational skills;
  4. To increase students' abilities to think through and apply concepts to practical action, particularly as these pertain to community collaborations in general and our collaboration with the WRC and its constituents in particular;
  5. To facilitate students' building of healthy and functional relationships around both differences and likenesses experienced within the classroom community and with the community partner's constituencies; and
  6. To encourage students' ongoing identification with and participation in a shared community, both on a small scale (as members of a classroom learning community) and as change agents at PSU.
Project Description: 

Group Project will be done in two sections:

Section ONE: A 2-4 page paper describing the following:

  • Your group's established roles, norms and rules:
    How will you make decisions?
    How will you handle conflict?
    Agreements around communication, attendance etc.
  • A brief description of the plan your group is formulating. If it is still in flux, discuss the options on the table and the factors at play in your decision making.
  • A description of what you bring to the group. This might be knowledge or skills from classes or experience in the community. It might be that you have an asset like a truck or community connections or access to computer software or perhaps the work fits with your career goals. Really consider what you have to offer here.

Section TWO:
(Each group member must attach her/his own copy) Attach a table including the name of your group, the names of the members in your group, each person's e-mail & phone number, whether or not they check e-mail regularly, role in the group if you choose to assign permanent roles (such as note taker, facilitator etc...), and any other information you think would be helpful to have as a quick reference.