Education Topics

What is Consent?

  • Consent is a mutual agreement between individuals that they want to engage in a sexual activity.

  • Consent is the presence of the word "Yes". Silence is not consent.

  • A person who is incapacitated due to alcohol or drugs can not give their consent to sexual activity.

Click below to see ODU's Discrimination policy:

Interpersonal Violence Prevention at ODU

Monarchs Make a Difference by:

1) Learning about prevention at new student orientations and in the residence halls. Click here to view our "Choices" orientation video.

2) Participating in the Green Dot Bystander Training.

3) Leading awareness events for the Red Flag Campaign and Sexual Assault Awareness Month every October and April. Email us to get involved.

Contact the Women's Center to learn more about getting involved, womensctr@odu.edu

Alcohol is the number one rape drug

  • Almost 90% of non-stranger sexual assaults on campus involve alcohol.

  • 43% of the sexual victimization incidents involve alcohol consumption by victims and 69% involve alcohol consumption by the perpetrators.

  • The majority of campus assaults are committed by a small percentage of men who are serial rapists and they often use alcohol to facilitate their crimes.

Healthy Relationships

  • You are in a healthy relationship when each person:

  • Shares thoughts and ideas

  • Listens

  • Uses respectful language and gestures

  • Is honest

  • Is dependable

  • Believes their partner

  • Has support from friends and family

  • Has equal decision making power

  • Is emotionally supportive

  • Is peaceful

  • Respects privacy and boundaries

Learn more about healthy relationships and red flags for relationship violence at

What can I do to stop interpersonal violence before it happens?

REP ODU and Practice Violence Intervention and Prevention!!!

What Every Monarch Can Do:

  • Speak out against sexist speech or jokes. Put downs set the stage for abuse.
  • Attend the Green Dot Bystander training.
  • Make sure everyone gets home safely.
  • Communicate your boundaries honestly and clearly.
  • If you sense someone is at risk for sexual or relationship abuse, seek help.

Don't wait for someone else to react. if you are worried for someone's safety, take action:

Check In: Are You OK?

Distract: Call their cell or ask, Don't I have class with you?

Separate: Is that your car being towed?

Get help: Find their friends. Notify the bartender/security or call 911!!

Schedule a skill building workshop on Bystander Intervention for your fraternity, sorority, student group or team and join us in creating a safe and respectful campus culture.

What is Sexual Assault?

  • Sexual Assault is any sexual activity by an individual or group that occurs without the consent of the other person involved.
  • Sexual assault can include, but is not limited to, sexual touching, groping, forced or coerced oral, vaginal or anal intercourse.
  • Sexual activity without consent is a violation of ODU's and Virginia law.

What does it look like on college campuses?

  • 1 in 5 college women will be the victims of completed or attempted rape in the undergraduate years. (2015 Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation Survey).
  • 90% of college women who experience rape or sexual assault know their offender (Fischer, Culler, & Turner, 2000).
  • Only 12% of rapes are reported to college police (Kilpatrick et al. 2007). Most students only tell a friend.
  • Alcohol is the most common rape drug. Use of alcohol by the victim or the perpetrator does not lessen the offender's responsibility for the violence.
  • While the majority of sexual assaults are committed by men against women, rape occurs with same sex couples, married couples, and people of all ethnicities, incomes and ages.

Please know, if you are a survivor of sexual assault, you are not responsible for someone hurting you, regardless of what you were wearing, drinking or doing.

For more information on recovering from sexual assault:

What is Relationship Abuse/Violence? The objective of abuse is to maintain power and control over a partner and it can take many forms: sexual abuse, psychological abuse, emotional abuse or financial abuse. Relationship abuse/violence affects both females and males, and does not discriminate by racial, social or economic background. If it occurs between students, it is a violation of the Student Code of Conduct.

A relationship may be abusive and could become violent if one partner uses:

  • Jealousy-calls or texts constantly, doesn't want partner to be with others
  • Emotional abuse- uses put-downs, excessive teasing and is always finding fault with partner
  • Isolation-wants partner to give up activities that she/he enjoys
  • Coercion- ignores partner's wishes or needs, forces partner to do something against their will
  • Physical and sexual abuse- Grabs or pushes partner, throws or breaks objects, forces sex on partner
  • Blame- to avoid responsibility for his/her actions.

What is Stalking?

Stalking is a pattern of conduct directed at someone that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. Stalking is a crime that can be committed against anyone, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or geographic location.

Am I Being stalked?

If you feel threatened by someone's unwanted attention, it could be harassment or stalking. Stalkers stalk to force a relationship with someone who is unavailable. It can happen after a breakup or when someone wants to date a person who does not share their attraction. Stalking can include:

  • Contacting you excessively ( text, email, phone calls, posts etc.)
  • Tracking your whereabouts through social media or friends
  • Sending you unwanted gifts
  • Following you
  • Threatening to harm you, your family, friends, or pets
  • Damaging your property
  • Using social media or email against you ( hate, obscene messages, hacking your computer or accounts, spamming, posting your pictures or messages online)

Stalking is a violation of Virginia law. Stalking can also escalate into greater violence such as physical assault or sexual violence. If you think you are being stalked, seek support from campus police,757-683-4000 and the Women's Center, 757-683-4109.

Cyber stalking is a growing problem on US college campuses. Follow these tips for cyber safety when you go online:

  • Respect yourself and others; think before you hit send. Words typed or pictures posted on a screen can travel far and wide in minutes. They can cause significant and lasting harm.
  • Keep your private information, private. Never post your phone number, address or your whereabouts on line.
  • Keep it clean. Sending your inappropriate pictures or illegal content to friends, can come back to haunt you.
  • Be real with your friends. Only accept friend requests from people you actually know: not friends of friends of friends...
  • Take the tags off. Tell your friends to ask permission before they tag you in photos or upload those selfies they took at last night's party.
  • For more information visit .

Why should I go to the emergency room or student health services after a sexual assault?

Health concerns after an assault include:

  • Internal injuries
  • Pregnancy
  • Sexually Transmitted Infections

Emergency contraception is available for $16, over-the-counter at Student Health Services. A medical practitioner can prescribe antibiotics for infections and treat injuries after giving you an exam (charges apply).

Should you wish to have evidence of a recent assault collected (within 72 hours), with or without reporting the incident to the police, the YWCA's Response Program, 757-622-4300, will accompany you to the emergency room. There a Forensic Nurse Examiner can collect evidence from your body that can be held for up to six months while you decide whether or not you want to press charges. In order to preserve evidence that can be used in a court case, try not to eat, urinate, shower, change clothes or brush your hair. If you do change clothes, bring the clothes you were wearing as evidence in a paper bag (not plastic).

For more information about the Physical Evidence Recovery Kit (PERK) exam, visit the .

Women's & Gender Equity Center