Who We Are and What We Do
About SAPA
SAPA is a volunteer, para-professional student organization under the department of Sexual Aggression Services. The services provided by SAPA are confidential and free of charge. SAPA offers a variety of services including advocacy, education, and outreach focused on the issues of sexual aggression to the CMU campus and community. Sexual aggression is the umbrella term adapted by SAPA and utilized to encompass the issues of domestic violence, harassment, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
The organization consists of approximately 50 undergraduate and graduate students who receive an average of 60 hours of training annually. They receive training in each of the following areas each year:
- Confidentiality
- Empathetic listening & advocacy skills
- Educational programming
- Crisis intervention
- Title IX and Clery Act
- CMU Safe Zone training
- Laws & legal resources
- Campus and criminal processes
- Safety planning
- Campus and community resources
- Extensive training in the issues of sexual aggression
- Trauma
- Medical resources
- Bystander mentality
- Self-care
- Skillset application
SAPA services
Confidential advocacy services are the cornerstone of SAPA. These include 24/7 crisis and support services via crisis phone line and in-person services. Advocacy services are available to CMU faculty, staff, and students as well as community members.
Each year SAPA dedicates thousands of volunteer hours to the issues surrounding sexual aggression. While it is impossible to note the expansive ways SAPA's dedicate their time, the following are a few examples:
- Advocacy efforts, including assisting hundreds of individuals impacted by sexual aggression annually.
- Community outreach efforts, including the coordination of several awareness month events throughout the year.
- Educational efforts, including the annual presentation of the new student orientation program No Zebras, No Excuses.