Beginning in 2017, a Columbia University research team began publishing the results of a significant study on campus sexual behaviors. The Sexual Health Initiative to Foster Transformation (SHIFT) was co-led by Jennifer S. Hirsch, professor of Sociomedical Sciences, and Claude Ann Mellins, professor of Medical Psychology. The project involved collaboration with Columbia undergraduates and received university funding.
The SHIFT study’s findings have influenced approaches to sexual health and violence prevention beyond academic circles. Media coverage highlighted the project’s focus on how social environments shape student behavior. In 2020, Hirsch and Shamus Khan published “Sexual Citizens,” a book based on SHIFT’s ethnographic work that introduced new frameworks for understanding young people’s sexual relationships.
Recently, universities such as Cornell and the University of Michigan have launched undergraduate courses centered around “Sexual Citizens.” At the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), a similar course uses the book’s framework to address consent and healthy relationships. Columbia has also implemented recommendations from SHIFT and “Sexual Citizens” into its own programs.
“It’s so gratifying to see other schools using our research to ground their prevention efforts,” said Hirsch. “Both in SHIFT and with Sexual Citizens, we had an audacious goal: to transform prevention by helping people see the social roots of campus sexual violence. I think we are only beginning to see the power of applying a public health optic to sexual violence prevention, focused on changing the environments that facilitate harm.”
At the University of Michigan, a new initiative includes a course based on “Sexual Citizens” as part of a four-year randomized controlled trial for incoming first-year students. Some students take this class while others receive standard prevention education; both groups are surveyed each semester about their experiences until graduation. Sandra Levitsky, associate professor at Michigan and co-lead of the study, explained: “We wanted to see what would happen if we introduced the concept of sexual citizenship and comprehensive sex ed—not as a one-hour workshop during students’ first semester of college, but as an actual class, with a trained professor and text (Sexual Citizens) and opportunities for discussion and reflection.” She added that her team was “inspired by SHIFT to think outside the box with regard to how we do prevention education at Michigan.”
Cornell University has offered an undergraduate course since 2023 using concepts from “Sexual Citizens,” including ideas like “sexual projects,” “sexual citizenship,” and “sexual geographies.” The course addresses strategies such as providing comprehensive sexuality education before college entry, addressing mental health issues, substance abuse, and creating late-night social spaces for students.
“Sexual Citizens is at the core of the class, and students utilize the concepts the book sets out to explore their own sexual projects, to reflect on their sexual citizenship, and to reimagine how they can remake the sexual geographies existing on campus,” said Sharon Sassler, Cornell Professor of Public Policy and Sociology. Student feedback has been very positive according to Sassler.
Cornell’s Skorton Center for Health Initiatives is also piloting a program for Greek chapters based on concepts from “Sexual Citizens.” Attendees found discussions about agency particularly meaningful.
At UMBC, faculty developed an elective course called “Rated R for Relationships: Sex, Power, and Creating a Culture of Respect” in response to perceived shortcomings in short-form training sessions during orientation. Over time it has incorporated more material from “Sexual Citizens” due partly to student feedback. In 2024 it was renamed “Consent, Respect, and Sexual Citizenship.” Preliminary research indicates that students report better alignment between their values and romantic lives after taking this course.
“We found that from the beginning to the end of the semester there was significant improvement in those areas,” said Christopher Murphy, professor at UMBC who helped develop its curriculum.
Columbia has responded by creating new social spaces such as Special Interest Communities (SICs) where students live with peers sharing common interests or identities—examples include communities focused on Black or Indigenous identity or LGBTQ+ issues—and extending hours at popular dining halls like JJ’s Place.
Prevention strategies identified through SHIFT help reduce vulnerability when seeking safe social spaces late at night according La’Shawn Rivera executive director Columbia’s Sexual Violence Response initiative: “Sexual Citizens offered evidence-based support for strategies that university continues prioritize showing approach these issues both necessary effective.”
Jennifer S. Hirsch emphasized Columbia’s commitment: “I always want lift up just how extraordinary it was that Columbia supported us do this work… Few universities have welcomed it when their own faculty seek do research examining sexual violence… which takes such toll students higher education.”
Hirsch described translating research into policy as challenging but rewarding: “To help people think differently about how solve what has been an intractable problem… It’s not enough generate new understanding… you have hustle relentlessly connect stakeholders situated pick up understanding make change.”
She concluded: “This could be an inflection point where schools start pivot simply telling students consequences bad behavior helping them learn necessary skills be sexual without causing harm changing environments channel students towards safer ways interacting.”
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