Green Dot Week raises awareness

The Connecticut College community is seeing green. The campus is celebrating its annual "Green Dot Week," a series of events and activities dedicated to raising awareness about the College's violence prevention program, Feb. 1-7.

Implemented at the College in 2010, Green Dot is a national program through which faculty, staff and students are trained in bystander-intervention techniques to help prevent sexual violence, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking. Since the program was implemented at Conn, more than 1,100 students have completed Green Dot training.

“Time and time again, studies have shown that thousands of people are victims of sexual assault, partner violence and stalking every year. These acts of violence are like red dots on a map,” said CC Curtiss, director of wellbeing and health promotion. “We teach members of our community to use Green Dots—words, choices and actions—that communicate violence is not okay and we can each do our part." 

Green Dot Week kicked off with a campus-wide “Green-Out” Feb. 1. Members of the community were encouraged to wear green, carry green coffee mugs, post Green Dot posters throughout campus and post about Green Dot on social media.

A highlight of the week was the 8th Annual Green Dot Men’s Hockey Game on Feb. 2. Members of the team, more than 80 percent of whom have been trained in the Green Dot program, donned special green jerseys to take on Tufts University in Dayton Arena. The event featured raffle prizes and giveaways, and spectators wore green to show their Green Dot pride. The crowd of more than 250 cheered the team to a 2-1 victory.  

"This game means so much to our team and it's a game we circle on our calendar every season," said Liam Ferguson '20. "It is an opportunity for us to shed light on Green Dot and the ideals that it puts forth into our Conn community. We all will be presented with opportunities to be a bystander and take action against these forms of violence. We pride ourselves on having a safe community based on peer and cultural influence."

Green Dot Week events also included a Green Dot MixxedFit workout class and the annual Green Dot dinner in Harris Refectory.