Royal Roads University
IN-3: Innovation 3

In 2012, RRU Student Association received a grant from the Status of Women in Canada, a federal organization, to support a project that focuses on "Engaging Young People to Prevent Violence against Women on Post-Secondary Campuses." This project is led by students and it will be carried out over three years. Over this period, the Safety Committee, and the Safety Project coordinator will be engaging young people on campus in program based activities to raise awareness of women's safety on campus. Thus far the committee has been working with METRAC, a safety audit company, to perform a campus safety on the overall safety of RRU. METRAC two visits incorporated student, staff and faculty engagement with a "Lunch and Learn" and an "Open Dialogue Session," focus groups, "Safety Audit Training" for any students, staff, faculty that were interested followed by a "Safety Audit Walk-about Training." Currently, METRAC is composing a report based on their findings from their two visits to conclude with recommendations that RRU should consider to make it a safer campus. The Safety Committee is currently working with Konrad, a software company, to develop a safety app, compatible with IPhone, Android and Blackberry, for RRU. To improve communication on campus, the Safety Committee is using Thoughtstream, which is a dynamic online tool to gain input on specific ideas or projects. This August, 2013, a half-day self-defence workshop will be offered to anyone who is interested. There is another 1.5 years remaining on this project to continue to improve over all safety on campus.