Campus Sexual Violence Project

Institutional Prevention and Response to Sexual Violence on Canadian Campuses

Purpose and nature of the study

The purpose of this research study is to use the techniques of interactive theatre to explore how universities respond to sexual violence on campus and how the institutional response can be changed by faculty and students.

Research study participants are faculty and students from across the country who are actively interested in or involved with trying to change their university's or college's responses to campus sexual violence -- such as organizers, activists, and their allies.

Please note: It is not the purpose of the study to explore or resolve trauma experienced by individual sexual violence survivors, but rather the institutional response to sexual violence.

Phase One: WORKSHOPS - January 17 - February 18, 2022

Participants in this phase of the research study were students and instructors from across Canada. They were invited to take part in five, 1.5 hour virtual interactive theatre workshops. Two separate workshops series were held: one for student participants (Jan. 24 - Feb. 11, 2022) and one for faculty/instructor participants (Jan. 17-Feb. 18, 2022).

In each workshop series, approximately 15 participants were invited to use theatre-inspired techniques to co-create multi-character scenarios depicting institutional responses to sexual violence on campuses based on their experiential knowledge as either a student or faculty/instructor.

Phase Two: FORUMS - September 27 - October 6, 2022

Based on the experiences explored in the workshops, a selection of dramatic scenes were scripted with all personal and identifying information removed. These dramatic scenes were performed by professional actors at a series of "forums" or online interactive theatre presentations in the fall of 2022.

The students and instructors invited to these performances had the opportunity to discuss the scenes they watched and to enter into the dramatized scenarios themselves, to intervene and to explore different avenues for activism and allyship to create institutional change.

The interactive theatre forums took place as follows:

STUDENT Forum: Sept 27 at 2 PM (EST)
INSTRUCTOR Forum: Sept 29 at 2 PM (EST)
COMBINED (Student & Instructor) Forum #1: Oct 4 at 2 PM (EST)
COMBINED (Student & Instructor) Forum #2: Oct 6 at 7 PM (EST)

Additional information

All of this project's interactive theatre workshops and forums took place virtually, on Zoom. They were facilitated by consultant Simon Malbogat, Artistic Director of Mixed Company Theatre, along with 4-6 professional artists from their artistic team. Members of the research team are also in attendance at the workshops and forums.

Participants were not required or expected to have any theatre background.

This research project has been reviewed and received ethics clearance from the University of Saskatchewan Behavioural Research Ethics Board (BEH-REB 2593), Brock University Office of Research Ethics (21-024-Quinlan), and the University of Waterloo Research Ethics Board (REB #43667).

For more information about the Campus Sexual Violence Project, please email Jennifer W. Webber Forrest at: CampusSV.researchproject@usask.ca

This project is funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

_{Credit: Banner Photo by Mélodie Descoubes on}_Unsplash.

Please note: The fall 2022 forums have now concluded. There may be future opportunities to participate in this project, however, so please check this page again in future or email CampusSV.researchproject@usask.ca for more information.

Fall Forums - 2022

All students (undergraduate and graduate) and instructors at Canadian post-secondary education institution were invited to participate in one or more of our upcoming forums:

STUDENT Forum: Sept 27 at 2 PM (EST)
INSTRUCTOR Forum: Sept 29 at 2 PM (EST)
COMBINED (Student & Instructor) Forum #1: Oct 4 at 2 PM (EST)
COMBINED (Student & Instructor) Forum #2: Oct 6 at 7 PM (EST)

Each forum took place on Zoom and ran for 90 minutes.

Forum participants watched actors perform dramatic scenes depicting how students and instructors see their universities responding to sexual violence. They then had the opportunity to step into the action to intervene and explore different avenues for creating institutional change.

Please note: It is not the purpose of the study to explore or resolve trauma experienced by individual sexual violence survivors, but rather to explore the institutional response to sexual violence. However, we plan to have counselling support available at the forum.

More information

Learn more about the study from our Forum Consent Information

For additional information, please contact Project Coordinator, Jennifer W. Webber Forrest at: CampusSV.researchproject@usask.ca

Photo of theatre seats by Paolo Chiabrando, courtesy of Unsplash.

Our interactive theatre presentations are part of a tradition called "Forum Theatre."

Forum theatre is an interactive approach that engages the audience in developing real-time strategies for dealing with social and personal dilemmas.

In a forum theatre presentation, a story representing a social problem is created and then rehearsed and performed by professional actors. A trained Forum Theatre facilitator then prepares and encourages audience members to replace the actors on the (in our case virtual) stage and to change the story in a constructive way. The story is then presented again -- only this second time, the audience members can intervene in the story, if they wish, as "spectactors," to test alternative endings.

Through open and supportive Forum Theatre facilitation, audiences are able to imagine, propose, and test strategies with one another in a safe, fun, and inspiring space.

Mixed Company Theatre, our partner in this research project, brings more than 30 years of experience in forum theatre. It has been producing innovative, socially relevant drama as a tool for positive change since 1983.

For more information on Mixed Company Theatre's use of forum theatre, please visit:
https://mixedcompanytheatre.com/forum-theatre/

Photo of Dr. Elizabeth Quinlan — "I am guided by a vision of sociology as a vehicle for promoting a caring society." - Dr. Elizabeth Quinlan

Principal Investigator

Dr. Elizabeth Quinlan, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Saskatchewan. Phone: 306-966-6937; Email: elizabeth.quinlan@usask.ca

Co-Investigators

Dr. Andrea Quinlan, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology & Legal Studies, University of Waterloo. Phone: 519-888-4567, ext. 47645; Email: andrea.quinlan@uwaterloo.ca

Dr. Curtis Fogel, Associate Professor, Department of Sports Management, Brock University. Phone: 905-688-5550, ext. 4617; Email: cfogel@brocku.ca

Project Coordinator

Jennifer W. Webber Forrest, Research Associate, Department of Sociology, University of Saskatchewan. Email: CampusSV.researchproject@usask.ca