OurTurn National Action Plan

The OurTurn National Action Plan is a resource published on October 11th, 2017 with the intention to give student unions the tools they need to end campus sexual violence through evidence-based programs and effective action. The Action Plan was researched and written by students — undergraduate and graduate, survivors and allies of varying ages, races, religions, abilities, and genders — who came together to address a large-scale problem on our campuses.

Published just one week before the #MeToo movement began, we saw a huge shift in conversations about sexual violence on campus before and after the publishing of the report. This also resulted in administrators as well as students beginning to use the tools we outlined in the Action Plan. Although we are glad administrators at universities are turning to student-made resources when creating policies, we want to stress that the primary audience for this resource has always been student leaders. We want to provide student leaders these tools so that universities and colleges can become safer places to study, work, and live.

At the time of publishing, 20 student unions and groups from universities and colleges across Canada signed onto the Our Turn Action Plan, and more signed on in the year that followed. In doing so, these groups committed to initiating a student-led response to sexual violence on their campuses using this action plan as a guide.

As part of the Action Plan, OurTurn conducted a comprehensive review of 60 campus sexual violence policies in order to create a campus sexual violence policy scorecard with 45 criteria. Working alongside partnered student unions, 14 institutions were evaluated using the scorecard at the time of publication and received an average grade of C- (61%). A lot of media focus was given to the scorecard, and as tends to happen, a lot of the nuance of our work was lost when the scorecard was used without the rest of the Action Plan. We at SFCC continue to use the scorecard and other resources we created under the OurTurn name, and we strongly recommend that you reach out to us if you want to work together to grade or review your school’s policy! You can reach out to us at outreach@sfcccanada.org.

OurTurn National Action Plan / À Notre Tour : Le Plan d’Action

When using the OurTurn Action Plan, please cite the report as follows:

Salvino, Caitlin, Kelsey Gilchrist, and Jade Cooligan-Pang. ‘OurTurn: A National Action Plan to End Campus Sexual Violence’. Montreal, QC: Student’s Society of McGill University, October 2017.

Lorsque vous utilisez le plan d'action À notre tour, veuillez citer le rapport comme suit:

Salvino, Caitlin, Kelsey Gilchrist, et Jade Cooligan-Pang. ‘À Notre Tour: Une Stratégie Complète Menée Par Les Étudiant.e.s Pour Prévenir La Violence Sexuelle et Appuyer Les Survivantes et Survivants Sur Les Campus Universitaires Canadiens’. Montréal, QC: Association Étudiante de l’Université McGill, 2017.

One Year Later Report