Changing the Conversation About Campus Culture
For decades, conversations about safety on college campuses focused largely on policies, enforcement, and response after harm occurred. Blue-light emergency phones, reporting systems, and disciplinary procedures were developed to respond to violence after it happened.
Today, many colleges are expanding that conversation. Increasingly, the focus is on prevention. The goal is not only to respond to harm but to help stop it before it begins.
Matt McMahon, a prevention educator at Princeton University, describes himself as a “preventionist.” He leads prevention programming within Princeton University’s SHARE office (Sexual Harassment/Assault, Advising, Resources, and Education). Before joining Princeton, he spent nearly a decade leading campus violence prevention and peer education initiatives at the University of Delaware and contributed to international efforts addressing gender-based violence through work with the United Nations and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The term preventionist reflects both his professional role and his belief that violence is not inevitable.
“I really do strongly believe that we can live in a world without violence,” McMahon said. “With the right tools, skills, and honest communication, we can create communities where people don’t experience harm in the first place.”
Understanding Power and Harm
Early in his career, McMahon often used the phrase gender-based violence. Over time, his language evolved.
While women experience sexual violence at higher rates than cisgender men, he believes it is important to recognize that harm can affect anyone.
“It’s not about sex or intimacy,” he explained. “It’s about power and control.”
For that reason, he now often uses the term power-based violence. The phrase highlights how unequal power dynamics can lead to harm in relationships and communities.
“I’m a cis white man from North America, and I recognize that I have privilege that comes with that,” he said. “Privilege and power are not inherently bad. But when they go unacknowledged and unchecked, they can be misused.”
Prevention work, he says, involves helping people recognize those dynamics and encouraging respectful relationships rooted in consent and mutual understanding.
A Pivotal Moment for Young Adults
McMahon believes college campuses offer a unique opportunity for prevention work. Students arrive at college during a time when they are forming their identities and exploring new relationships.
“When students come to college, they are figuring out who they are,” he said. “They are thinking about their values, their boundaries, and what respect looks like in relationships.”
These conversations can shape how young adults approach relationships, communication, and responsibility.
“The decisions students make now about who they want to be will influence the communities they lead in the future,” McMahon said.
The Power of Peer Leadership
Peer leadership is one of the most effective tools for shifting campus culture. At Princeton, McMahon co-manages a team of 40 undergraduate and five graduate peer educators through the University’s SHARE office, who work with students to promote healthy relationships, consent, and bystander intervention. Peer educators complete intensive training before beginning their work and continue developing their skills through ongoing meetings and education throughout the academic year.
Peers often communicate these ideas in ways that resonate strongly with fellow students.
“As a 40-year-old man, I’m pretty far removed from the day-to-day reality of undergraduate life,” McMahon said with a laugh. “Students know how to talk to each other in ways that connect.”
Peer educators also help build a culture where students look out for one another. Bystander intervention encourages people to step in when they see behavior that could lead to harm.
“When people recognize harmful behavior and intervene, it sends a message that our community does not tolerate that behavior,” he said.
Prevention Begins Earlier
The shift toward prevention is not happening on college campuses alone. Across Mercer County, educators and community organizations are helping young people develop these skills long before they arrive at college.
Through Younity’s Prevention & Education Program, professionals work with schools, youth groups, and community partners to provide age-appropriate education about consent, healthy relationships, and bystander intervention. These conversations help young people build the language and confidence to communicate boundaries and respect the autonomy of others.
Younity regularly collaborates with educators, community leaders, and campus partners who share the goal of preventing harm before it occurs.
By introducing these concepts early, prevention educators hope to equip young people with tools they will carry with them into adulthood.
Growing Awareness Among Young People
In recent years, organizations across the country have seen an increase in teens and young adults reaching out for support. Younity has observed similar trends through its hotline services, where more teens and young adults are seeking guidance about relationships and experiences that feel confusing or concerning.
For McMahon, this shift may reflect growing awareness.
“We are seeing more people access services, while reports of harm themselves have remained relatively steady,” he said. “That suggests that stigma around seeking help may be decreasing.”
He believes younger generations are increasingly recognizing different forms of power-based violence, including harassment, stalking, and exploitation.
“People are recognizing these behaviors cause harm,” he said. “And they are learning that support is available.”
Advice for Students and Parents
When asked what advice he would give students preparing for college, McMahon returned to a central theme.
Consent.
“I want students to really think about what their expectations are around relationships and sex,” he said. “How will you ask for what you want? How will you say no? And how will you respond respectfully if someone tells you no?”
For parents, he acknowledges that conversations about relationships, boundaries, and consent can feel uncomfortable. But open communication remains important.
Parents can help by starting these conversations at home while also encouraging their students to identify trusted adults they feel comfortable speaking with. That might be a parent, but it could also be an extended family member, mentor, counselor, teacher, or another supportive adult. Families can also remind students that resources exist on college campuses and in the community if they ever need guidance or support.
“Encourage your student to have at least one trusted person they can talk to about difficult experiences,” he said.
Honoring Survivors and Community Action
One of the longest-standing traditions connected to this work is Take Back the Night, a movement that began in the 1970s and spread widely across college campuses in the 1980s.
At Princeton, the event continues to bring students and community members together to support survivors and raise awareness.
Originally, the rallies called for universities to take violence more seriously and improve campus safety measures. Over time, they have also become spaces for reflection, solidarity, and hope.
“It is an opportunity for survivors to share their experiences and for the community to stand together,” McMahon said. “It is also a reminder that we all have a role to play in creating safer communities.”
As colleges, community organizations, educators, and families continue working together, prevention remains at the center of that effort.
The Role We All Play in Prevention
The goal is simple but powerful: building a culture where respect, consent, and accountability make violence far less likely to occur in the first place.
Achieving that goal takes ongoing effort from colleges, educators, families, and community organizations working together. Through prevention programs, peer leadership, and open conversations about relationships and boundaries, communities can help ensure that the next generation is better prepared to build safer and more respectful environments for everyone.
