Mike DomitrzPresident, Author, and Speaker on Respect, The Center for Respect, Inc. · Author & Speaker on Respect for Schools, Corporations, & the Military since 1990 (has reached

Why it never hurts to check in with someone.

30 Apr 2024 · 1 min

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In this brief campus-focused presentation, the speaker urges listeners to intervene or check in when they suspect a sexual assault, arguing that there is no regret in trying to help and no harm in being wrong. The talk frames bystander action as a moral imperative—regret comes from not acting, not from a mistaken intervention. The speaker references a set of "4 simple steps" taught on campus, emphasizing that virtually every student has been trained in them, so no special friendship is required to approach someone at a party. The message is reinforced by positioning this proactive behavior as part of the campus’s family-like culture of looking out for one another, suggesting that such a supportive environment makes it easier and expected to intervene.

Chapters

Everyone, will you ever regret stopping a sexual assault? Yes or no? No. No way. You could regret not even trying the next morning. Imagine finding out there was one at a scene you were at, and you could have done something. You, you can't reverse now. But checking in and being wrong, no harm done. No harm done at all. And here's the great thing about what we just taught you, these 4 simple steps. Just about everybody on this campus has experienced this program by this year. Which means you don't even need a friend. You should be able to walk up to anybody at a party. And this is the culture here, that we look out for each other. This is part of the family, right? And that's the difference.