Night Slice is a new initiative from the University of Iowa’s Women’s Resource and Action Center that’s designed to create a safe, alcohol-free, after-hours environment to help combat alcohol-related crimes on campus. Join Lauren and Jada as they welcome guests Nina Morrison and Sumita Subramani to discuss the program.

Lauren Lavin:

Hello everybody, and welcome back to From the Front Row. Today’s episode is about Night Slice, an initiative at the University of Iowa aiming to curb sexual assault and provide alternative nightlife options for the University of Iowa student.

And this is a great episode showcasing a unique program in the Iowa City community. I’m Lauren Lavin, and I’m joined by my co-host, Jada McDonald. And if you’re new here, welcome. We’re a student-run podcast that talks about major issues in public health and how they’re relevant to anyone, both in and outside the field of public health.

Thank you guys so much for joining us today. To start off the podcast, we would love it if our guests could introduce themselves.

Nina Morrison:

Hi, I’m Nina Morrison, and I am a playwright and director, trained at the grad school here at the university, and I’m also the instructor for the Iowa Link Program.

Sumita Subramani:

My name is Sumi Subramani, and I am the operations coordinator at WRAC, the Women’s Resource and Action Center. And I am also a direct services advocate at the Rape Victim Advocacy Program. So I’ve been involved with sexual assault advocacy for around three years. And yeah, thanks so much for having us.

Lauren Lavin:

Well, we’re so happy that you guys agreed to join us, and we’re excited to learn more about Nite Slice.

Jada McDonald:

Awesome. If you guys want to just go ahead and start by telling us what Night Slice is.

Nina Morrison:

Yeah, it’s pretty simple. It is offering free slices of pizza to students with ID on Friday and Saturday nights from midnight to 3:00 AM. Nite Slice is provided and hosted by Unimpaired Dry Bar, which is an alcohol-free bar. And because they’re alcohol-free, they’re able to stay open later, so that’s why we can have those hours.

Lauren Lavin:

So is it for University of Iowa students exclusively or is it anyone with just a-

Nina Morrison:

Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

… state-issued ID?

Nina Morrison:

It is for University of Iowa students exclusively.

Lauren Lavin:

So then, what was the inspiration behind this program? Why did it get started? How long has it been going on? Those kind of background basics.

Nina Morrison:

The inspiration was we’ve all in the WRACtivist group, been trying to figure out prevention programs, what would be an effective prevention program that doesn’t feel like it is victim-blaming in any way, that doesn’t genderize assault too much, but yeah, something that just works for everyone.

And so after, I mean, I have, I have come up with a lot of pretty bad ideas in my opinion, and then, but this happened to be a good one. And so it’s, I, I pitched it to the WRACtivist group and then they have been totally supportive of it.

And then, Unimpaired got on board really soon after. So this was in this past February was when we got all this going. And then in March we were able to get, um, late night funding, and then we did a pilot program in the spring, um, for the last six weeks of classes, and, and it was very successful.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah, I always think that, like, you’ve got to have a few bad ideas before you get to the one gem that you needed. Right? It’s like the journey of getting there?

Nina Morrison:

Yeah, I, I had so many horrible gems. And so, yeah, so then yeah, then there was the good one.

Sumita Subramani:

That’s all you need. One.

Jada McDonald:

Awesome. Obviously wanted to do this because of statistics surrounding sexual assault and injuries and things of that matter. So what are some statistics that you can give to us, um, that motivated you to take action?

Nina Morrison:

Yeah, so, I’m just going to read off some statistics lists that I have. Each year among college students, ages 18 to 24, 696,000 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking. 599,000 who are under the influence of alcohol are unintentionally injured.

22,219 are hospitalized for an alcohol overdose, and 1,519 die from alcohol-related unintentional and injuries. And then, talking specifically about sexual assault, among undergraduate students, 26.4% of females and 6.8% of males experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation.

And incapacitation, according to the campus sexual assault study from 2007, let’s see, the typical assailant characteristics include 70% of assailants were drinking prior to the incident. And then victim characteristics, 89% were drinking prior to the incident and 82% were drunk prior to the incident.

So, oh and then the final one would be that these most often happened on Fridays and Saturdays between the hours, 90% of incapacitated sexual assault happened between midnight and 6:00 AM on Fridays and Saturdays. So that’s a lot of numbers.

Jada McDonald:

No, but it gives some good context. I mean, we’re talking about a large group of individuals who are impacted by this, and I think that that last part you just shared between the hours of 12:00 and 6:00, 90%, that’s a very compelling number-

Nina Morrison:

Yeah.

Jada McDonald:

… to try to reduce by some sort of programming like Nite Slice.

Nina Morrison:

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Sumita Subramani:

I also want to highlight The Red Zone here. So according to statistics from the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, also known as known as RAINN, over 50% of all college sexual assaults occur between the start of the fall semester and fall break, so around mid-November. And so, this time period is referred to as “The Red Zone.”

And during this time, students are particularly in a vulnerable position, especially freshmen, because they are often away from their home for the first time. It’s the first time they’re navigating a new environment and then for an extended period of time. And there’s also new campus culture that they’re getting familiar with in terms of football games and fraternity and sorority recruitment, and also just the socialized expectations of a college feels like it’s supposed to be.

And so, it’s navigating this unfamiliar terrain without an understanding of the resources and reporting options that are available. So it leaves students particularly vulnerable.

Nina Morrison:

Wow, that’s really interesting. So yeah, that first, I mean, that’s not even that, a huge chunk of time. That’s like a couple of months-

Sumita Subramani:

Yeah.

Jada McDonald:

… that, yeah. That’s really interesting. So with Nite Slice, have you seen, or do you have any success stories you’d like to share or the number of students who have been involved, that sort of a thing, what impact it’s had?

Nina Morrison:

Yeah, we surveyed the students who took part in the pilot program and there were lots of really positive comments that were offered at the end of that survey. But one particular comparison I’d like to make is that between the two questions, before you got to Unimpaired… This is the first question… Before you got to Unimpaired while you were out, did any of the following happen to you?

Choose any, all that apply. So, “I was catcalled or verbally sexually abused,” that ended up being around 13%. “Someone groped or grinded on me without my consent,” that was around 4%. “Someone attempted to get me away from my friends,” that was 4%. “Someone refused to take ‘no’ for an answer when I said I wasn’t interested in being around them,” that was 5%.

Someone tried to or did coerce or force me to engage in sexual activity that I didn’t want, that was also at 5%. All of those same questions were asked, “While you were unimpaired, did any of the following happen to you?” And it was zero across the board.

And I thought that was pretty powerful.

Jada McDonald:

Yeah, it shows that there’s a safe space being created for sure.

Nina Morrison:

Yeah. 98% said they would like to see Nite Slice continue, and-

Jada McDonald:

Do you know how many students participated?

Nina Morrison:

In the spring pilot there were 287 students who participated and then survey respondents, we had 67.

Jada McDonald:

Okay, that’s pretty good, 200 plus.

Sumita Subramani:

A lot of those students also participated multiple times. So there was a pretty large rate. I think it was about 68% of the students who responded said that they use Nite Slice multiple times.

Jada McDonald:

Wow. That’s also a testament to its beneficiality.

Sumita Subramani:

Yeah, for sure.

Nina Morrison:

And kind of thinking to this semester, we piloted it, it’s working, we can see the results. What are you guys seeing for results for this semester and the impact that it’s making on, or the number of people that it’s impacting this semester?

Sumita Subramani:

We don’t have as much hard data collected yet for this semester, but anecdotally from those who are working at Unimpaired, they’re often running out of slices earlier and earlier, and they’re having a lot of students come by just to hang out, just they have a lot of students who maybe they were out drinking, but then they come by, they played games with their friends, one night the manager said that they were playing Twister and playing pool, and then he also said a couple of groups of young women came in and weren’t even asking for pizza.

They just said they wanted a safe place to wait for their rides.

Jada McDonald:

That’s also good to hear, and I think part of it is as word spreads that it’s a fun environment to be in regardless of whether you’re trying to escape a situation or not. It just kind of ends up being a way to round out your night that maybe deescalates situations that could have happened otherwise.

Nina Morrison:

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And that’s what we were really hoping for was that it would just provide a place to go where people didn’t feel like they had to completely separate themselves from their friends, just go home. You know? But they could just, they could have a place where they could still be social, but it would be a safer environment.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah. And I’ve definitely waited for an Uber in some less than ideal situations. So I even think that’s a really good benefit to have, like a really easy place for someone to pick you up that you feel safe in until that happens. So.

Nina Morrison:

Exactly. Yeah.

Jada McDonald:

Also a good point for people to note. So how would you like to expand Nite Slice in the future? Is there expansion or what’s the future of the program?

Nina Morrison:

We’re, I mean, mostly, I don’t know if this would be considered expansion, but just longevity. We would really like to secure ongoing funding and then hopefully also some additional resources and personnel for Unimpaired who has taken on a huge task to do this with us.

Jada McDonald:

So, saying that you want to secure funding, have you had challenges so far trying to establish funding just in general, trying to establish this program as a program that stays in the community as we’re seeing that it has a really big impact.

Nina Morrison:

Yeah, there have been some challenges because we originally, for the pilot program, we received funding from late night programs through the university, but then late night programs really wanted to turn their attention to only student-based organizations or student-run organizations and activists, it’s a hybrid organization and it’s a department.

And so, that presented a problem. And then also most events, whether you’re applying through the campus activities board or through late night funding, most events are a one-time thing or a once a year kind of thing. And so, proposing something that’s ongoing, I think the costs can seem really daunting because it’s so much more. That’s definitely been a challenge.

Jada McDonald:

Yeah, funding usually is the barrier.

Sumita Subramani:

Mm-hmm, yeah. Yeah, I do actually want to highlight that some of the student groups that have stepped up to help us secure funding, we have been working with a few groups recently to fund a specific weekend of Nite Slice.

So for instance, the student advocates for Planned Parenthood have, Ignite, Health Policy Student Association. And also woman in business. And so they’ve helped secure some funding and we’re really grateful for them, and we would love to work with more student organizations to help keep this going as well.

Jada McDonald:

If you’re out there listening and you’re part of a student org, and you want to sponsor a night, seriously, they’re the ones you want to get in contact with. This is kind of, I guess, a broader question, but what support systems are in place for survivors of sexual assault at the University of Iowa and how has this work helped to create a supportive environment for them?

Nina Morrison:

Yeah, so the University of Iowa does work on different levels of prevention and efficacy efforts. So we do have, in terms of direct service advocacy, we have confidential services available through the university.

So one of those organizations is the Rape Victim Advocacy Program. They are an organization working specifically with sexual assault survivors and for prevention efforts on campus, they are available 24/7, there’s always an advocate available. And for students, if you actually look on the back of your student ID, their crisis number is available on the back of that.

So if you ever find yourself or a friend in a position where you need someone to help process something that happened, you can reach out to that number and there will always be someone available. The Women’s Resource and Action Center is also a confidential service, and we help with navigating different experiences including sexual assault, but also if you’ve experienced harassment or discrimination on campus, we can help navigate those resources and connect you to services as well.

And UCS is also a confidential service on campus that can help with processing sexual assault. UCS is the university counseling services. We also work with other organizations such as the Johnson County Sexual Assault Response Team, which is also a 24/7 available, and they are a coalition of nurses who are specifically trained to work with sexual assault survivors as well as advocates, and they can help navigate the medical examination.

Yeah, so in addition, so those are the confidential services on campus. In addition, we also work with prevention efforts. So, we have a violence prevention team, which involves a couple of staff members from the Women’s Resource and Action Center, as well as the Rape Victim Advocacy Program.

They work together to provide education across campus, primarily to the fraternity and sorority students on campus, but also to any other student organizations or athletes, staff, different departments that want to receive that training. They’re able to reach out for that. And they provide training regarding consent and healthy relationships, and also teaching how to prevent sexual violence in your community, the stand that you can take.

I think there is often a misconception that you have to do something big to prevent it. You have to stand up and kind of get in the middle of a situation and which usually escalates the problem, and that’s not the only way to prevent sexual assault on campus. There are many ways that you can be helpful as a bystander to help deescalate things and help people get out of problematic situations.

And so that is a lot of the education that they do on campus. So, we work with a lot of students, they are the certified peer educators on campus, and they help provide those trainings as well. We work with a lot of different levels of efforts to try to make the university a much more safe and supportive environment.

Jada McDonald:

That was a lot of really great resources. I hope people have their pen and paper out.

Sumita Subramani:

Yeah, we have those resources as well on our Instagram. We just did a post recently, so if anyone wants to check that out, we list about, I think seven or eight resources that can be really helpful during sexual assaults.

Lauren Lavin:

What Instagram page is that?

Sumita Subramani:

It is-

Nina Morrison:

wrac@uiowa.

Sumita Subramani:

… wrac@uiowa.

Jada McDonald:

Thank you for that.

Nina Morrison:

And wrac is W-R-A-C.

Jada McDonald:

Yes.

Lauren Lavin:

Okay, I think we just have one more question, and that’s how can individuals and the community get involved in or support Nite Slice going forward?

Nina Morrison:

Well, like we’ve mentioned before, if you’re part of a student org, you can definitely sponsor a weekend through Late Nite funding. You can also donate to the program through a GoFundMe, which we have on the WRAC website. And if you would like to donate in a tax-deductible way, you can donate to the program via the Women’s Resource and Action Center, and they can provide a tax-deductible receipt and then just generally volunteering for sexual assault awareness programs.

Sumita Subramani:

Yeah, Nina has mentioned the WRACtivist a few times, so I do want to highlight they are a volunteer group at WRAC, and the students decide, it’s students and community members, and they all get together and decide projects that they are interested in making a change with on campus.

So one of the main ones we have been focusing on for the last few years has been sexual assault awareness, and that has been led to several conversations and policy changes that we’re hoping to make as well as Nite Slice, which we’re very thankful for Nina to coming up with that.

RVAP, the Rape Victim Advocacy Program also has volunteering available if you’re interested in either direct service or prevention efforts, you can reach out to both RVAP and the Women’s Resource and Action Center, and we can get you connected.

Jada McDonald:

That’s so awesome. Well, I think you kind of explained a lot about how important it is to have these community efforts to shift away from a culture where sexual assault is okay or that is happening so commonly, especially with the statistics that you shared.

So, we definitely thank you for doing the work and the hard work that it takes to get a program like this implemented in a university. Is there anything else that you would like to add surrounding Nite Slice or the work that you’re doing?

Nina Morrison:

I don’t think so. Just gratitude for everyone who’s helped keep the program going and get it going, and then keep the program going, that’s been really amazing.

Sumita Subramani:

Yeah. Yeah, I’ll echo that. We have been very fortunate to work with a lot of really incredible people who are passionate about making a change on campus and making the community safer for everyone. And so, yeah, I’m really grateful to be a part of this community and we hope to be able to continue this work. Thank you so much for having us and letting us highlight this.

Jada McDonald:

Yeah, thank you.

Lauren Lavin:

Thank you both so much for being on and for spreading the awareness of the Nite Slice program and all that it does for the students at the University of Iowa.

Thank you to both Nina and Sumi for joining us today. This episode was hosted and written by Lauren Lavin and Jada McDonald and edited and produced by Lauren Lavin. You can learn more about the University of Iowa College of Public Health on Facebook.

Our podcast is available on Spotify, apple Podcast and SoundCloud. If you enjoyed this episode and would like to help support the podcast, please share it with your colleagues, friends, or anyone interested in public health. Have a suggestion for our team. You can reach us at cph-gradambassador@uiowa.edu. This episode is brought to you by the University of Iowa College of Public Health.

Until next week, stay healthy, stay curious, and take care.