Professors’ Experiences With Student Disclosures of Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence: How “Helping” Students Can Inform Teaching Practices

Abstract

As female faculty teaching classes on sensitive topics (e.g., Family Violence, Women and Crime, Victimology), we have received numerous disclosures of sexual assault and intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization from our students both in and outside the classroom. These experiences have caused each of us to reflect on our teaching practices within the classroom. When college professors receive disclosures from their students they have to develop strategies on how to effectively handle the disclosure, how to manage the classroom environment and assignments knowing that a survivor is in the course, and how to effectively handle their own emotional impact that may result from the disclosure. This paper explores the strategies that faculty report using when responding to disclosures by students and how receiving student disclosures can be used to inform teaching practices.