Tulane students present ideas for changing campus culture on sexual misconduct

Photo: Sally Asher

Approximately 50 Tulane students enrolled in new course, Project IX: Student Design to End Sexual Assault, presented their ideas for shifting campus culture around sexual misconduct to the Tulane community at an event May 2.

Creative, bold and thoughtful, the proposals ranged from an app to help sexual violence victims navigate the reporting process to a tarot card-inspired deck that encourages hard conversations around sexual assault. A peer victim advocate training program and branding campaign promoting consent culture were among the other solutions presented.

Launched by the Phyllis Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking in response to the grim results of the Tulane Climate Survey on Sexual Misconduct, Project IX empowered students to work collaboratively and use the tools of design thinking to develop ideas for student-led change. The effort was spearheaded by Taylor Design Thinking Project Manager Allison Schiller and run in collaboration with the Wave of Change initiative.

“Project IX was born out of the belief that the best way to create change is to have those at the center of the issue be involved intimately in the design process,” explained Project IX Co-Lead Katie Mathews.

At the round-robin poster session, interdisciplinary student teams presented solutions focused in the areas of community, justice, education and dialogue to rotating groups of Tulane faculty, staff and students.

Senior administration officials in attendance shared the students’ designs with the Wave of Change Expert Panel and have pledged to fund many of the projects.

Project IX will continue to work with students and the administration to further develop the proposals and tackle new projects. Watch a documentary on the Project IX design process from local filmmaker Jalea Jackson here, and view photos of the presentations here. To stay up to date with the progress, like Project IX on Facebook or reach out via email to projectix@tulane.edu.