Skip to main content

University Libraries

It's Green Dot Week

By Rachel Barnett

Green Dots are choices we make, behaviors we exhibit, and attitudes we project to demonstrate our commitment to promoting a safe and secure community for everyone. What Green Dot actions you take can depend on your comfort level or personal preference for a given situation. For example, if you hear a heated argument going down in your residence hall, you may directly intervene by checking in to make sure those in the argument are okay and not in any threat or danger. You may also interrupt the argument by asking a random question to distract those in conflict from their dispute to diffuse the situation.  If you do not feel comfortable getting in the middle of it, you can also delegate action to someone else by alerting the RA on duty. The key concept is that no one has to do everything, but everyone has to do something. By choosing to intervene by either direct action, distraction, or delegation, you are doing your part to reduce the likelihood that the issue will escalate and someone will be harmed. Check out this list of Green Dots you can do to participate in Green Dot Week.

Through our actions (and inactions) on campus, we demonstrate to those around us what we are willing to accept and what is intolerable for our campus community. If you want to learn more about Green Dots, consider participating in Green Dot training. Through the training, you will practice performing Green Dot actions as you engage in a variety of activities that help you gauge your preferred style when it comes to dealing with difficult situations. You will also learn about the importance of bystander intervention as you gain both skills and confidence to act when you are most needed. If you have already participated in Green Dot training, consider wearing your Green Dot T-shirt on Wednesday, February 22 to show your support!

Our collective actions define our campus community. Let's demonstrate our commitment to community and take action to promote a safe and secure environment for all who step foot on the University of Dayton grounds.  

- Rachel Barnett, Evening Access Services Specialist

Previous Post

News archive among growing body of Catholic digital resources

A library consortium is digitizing decades of diocesan and organizational publications for worldwide discovery.
Read More
Next Post

A poem for February

Sr. Mary Madeleva Wolff (1887-1964) wrote the poem "Things to Be Loved" and mentions the soft rain in February. The Libraries holds 21 books by Sr. Madeleva.
Read More