By Michaela Cleveland, Staff Writer

Published in print Sept. 3, 2014

As first year students at UNCG, each person is required to complete Alcohol Edu, an educational program designed by EVERFI to inform students on the dangers of binge and underage drinking.

This year, UNCG has implemented Haven, a new program designed by the same company to discuss sexual misconduct as an additional requirement.

Haven is described on the EVERFI website.

“Haven uses a population-level approach to educate all students on the issues associated with sexual assault and relationship violence, taking into account their unique perspectives and experiences, providing: key definitions and statistics, reflective and personalized content, bystander skill and confidence-building strategies, campus-specific policies, procedures, and resources, and rich data summaries to inform future programming.”

“Haven is an educational tool,” said Dr. Brett Carter, director of the Haven program at UNCG. “As of this year, all undergraduates are required and first year students are required to complete the program. It aims to raise awareness about various forms of sexual misconduct such as interpersonal violence, domestic violence, and provide support resources.”

The program was developed as an addition to Alcohol Edu.

The need for the program was seen after statistics stated that one in five college women and 1 in 16 college men will experience some form of sexual misconduct by the time they graduate.

“Haven has been around for several years, but this is the first time that it is being required at UNCG. It started in Alcohol Edu where students would be educated on things like date rape as a means to discuss the dangers of alcohol but then turned into something that stood on its own,” said Carter.

Approximately 98 percent of students completed Alcohol Edu last school year. Carter attributes this to making the program required by all first year students, which is the avenue they are using to get students to participate in Haven.

“We have told undergrads that the program is required and first year students that it is mandatory because we feel that it is important that students know how to protect themselves. However, there is no consequences for not completing Haven,” said Carter.

So far, UNCG has had great success with the program.

First year students and transfers have been completing the program along with their Alcohol Edu requirements at an expressive rate.

The deadlines for the program begin with part 1 on September 15th and part 2 which is to be completed on November 5th.