BeVocal: The Bystander Intervention Initiative of The University of Texas at Austin
History of BeVocal at the University of Texas at Austin
Timeline of Significant Events
2012
A group of UT Austin staff members formed a sub-committee on the UT Wellness Network to examine bystander intervention on campus
2013
A retreat was held in January 2013 with 15 members from departments across campus. A community readiness assessment and process logic model was developed, outlining our next steps to move towards our vision of a campus-wide initiative for bystander intervention.
A pre-orientation video about bystander intervention was created and viewed by all incoming students.
The Bystander Work Group hosted a second retreat with 24 faculty, staff and students in July 2013, to review core concepts, create UT-specific definitions including barriers and steps to intervening. This group collectively drafted and critiqued possible names and slogans.
The name BeVocal was chosen as the name for the bystander intervention initiative.
December 2013, BeVocal was pitched to the Assistant and Associate Vice Presidents of Student Affairs and received accolades and support.
2014
A third retreat and drafted a calendar for launching the initiative via a student logo competition scheduled for late March 2014.
February-March 2014, BeVocal launched a campus-wide baseline evaluation study with 804 student respondents. Results were released in Fall 2014.
May 2014, The BeVocal team narrowed down submissions from a logo design competition and opened voting to the UT Austin community. A new logo was designed by Dylan Schnurman, class of 2016 in the Department of Advertising.
August 2014, the UT System Board of Regents approved 1.4 million dollars of funding for a bystander intervention initiative that will be carried out by all academic institutions in the UT System.
Fall 2014, BeVocal Campus Facilitator trainings were launched so that departments and campus organizations could infuse the work into their programs and organizations.
2015
In January 2015, representatives from all UT System academic institutions attended a conference to share knowledge and best practices. Together, the schools identified a common definition and action steps for their bystander intervention initiatives.
March 2015, BeVocal attempted to have its first campus wide event, the SoGrow Festival. Unfortunately, it was canceled due to weather.
April 2015, BeVocal held its first official birthday party to celebrate the first year of being a fully launched initiative.
Summer 2015, BeVocal was infused into New Student Orientation
BeVocal hired its first paid staff member who serves as a Graduate Student Assistant
BeVocal Bystander Student Organization was officially launched and recognized as a student organization
2016
January 2016, representatives from all UT System academic institutions came back together to share updates from their campuses’ bystander intervention initiative.
April 2016, BeVocal held its second birthday party to celebrate the second year of being a recognized initiative.
July 2016, BeVocal hosts a campus-wide summer retreat with the focus on marketing and health communication.
2017
January 2017, representatives from all UT System academic institutions came back together to share updates from their campuses’ bystander intervention initiative.
April 2017, BeVocal held its third birthday party to celebrate the second year of being a recognized initiative.
April 2017, Vice President for Student Affairs supports funding for inagural BeVocal coordinator.