Students and campus departments join forces to host first Sexual Awareness Week April 12
By Roya Ghorbani-Elizeh
Students and faculty members at the University of Portland hope to raise awareness campus-wide with UP's first Sexual Assault Awareness week, beginning on April 12.
Predominantly led by the Sexual Assault Prevention Education & Teaching (SAPET) committee, students are asked to listen and converse with each other during the discussions and projects planned for the awareness week.
"It has always been a topic of interest to me because I have had friends affected by sexual assault," Kim Schuldt, an RA in Fields Hall, said. "When they asked for student volunteers, I jumped at the opportunity to help out."
Topics on the schedule include "Men Against Violence," "Speak Out: Break the Silence of Violence Against Women," "How to Help A Friend Become Porn Free" and "Killing Us Softly III Movie/Discussion: Advertising's Image of Women and its Impact on Relationships."
Schuldt notes that the Sexual Assault Awareness Week's various topics target both a male and female audience on campus.
Other activities include a women's self-defense class, Portland Women's Crisis Line cell phone donation drive and "Project Clothesline."
Schuldt helped arrange "Project Clothesline," which will be displayed in the lobbies of the residence halls.
According to Schuldt, "Project Clothesline" will be "like Post Secret, but on cardstock T-shirts" with students expressing their experiences with sexual assault.
"It really allows for students to express themselves based on their experiences," Schuldt said. "It is important for students to realize that this is a real issue for some people."
Many departments worked with SAPET to help plan and run these topics and discussion groups.
Departments involved with SAPET and the Sexual Assault Awareness week are Residence Life, the Health Center, the Feminist Discussion Group, Campus Ministry, the History Department and Public Safety.
According to Harold Burke-Sivers, director of Public Safety, the best way for students to prevent sexual assault is to not drink alcohol.
"All the sexual assault cases that I know at UP involve alcohol," Burke-Sivers said.
"Usually one or both parties have consumed alcohol or alcohol has been used as a weapon against someone," he said.
According to UP's SAFE website, alcohol is a factor in 90 percent of sexual assaults that occur on college campuses.
Public Safety records show that in 2008, there were four reported forcible sex offenses on campus and three reported in the residence halls.
Another forcible sex offense was also reported in the University Park area.
Figures for the 2009 crime report will not be compiled until August.
Burke-Sivers said to get accurate figures for what is happening at UP, he enlists the help of other departments on campus.
"I send an e-mail to other departments in May to ask about the cases that they know have not been reported to Public Safety," Burke-Sivers said. "I will send out the e-mail to any place I feel students might go to with sexual assault information."
However, he acknowledges the statistics on sexual assault probably don't tell the whole story.
"We are low in the number of sexual assault cases, but I feel that might be because they are underreported," Burke-Sivers said. "There are many who do not report the incident or they report it to other places on campus."
When a student comes to Public Safety with a sexual assault case, Public Safety gives the student options for how to proceed, including contacting Portland Police, going through the UP judicial process, talking with a SAFE advocate or to talk with a person they trust from other departments on campus.
SAFE advocates are staff and faculty members who are trained in responding to and supporting victims of sexual assault by providing resources and available information.
Currently, there are 30 SAFE trained advocates from many different departments on campus.
In addition, Burke-Sivers said he makes sure to have a female officer or a telecommunicator on every shift so that female students might feel more comfortable.
Last year, the University of Portland revised its sexual assault policy based on a resolution from ASUP.
It was felt that students were hesitant to report sexual assault cases because of fear of retribution from the University.
"I think students felt uneasy about the ambiguity of the statement," Katie Scally, junior ASUP senator and vice president-elect said. "It wasn't what the policy was saying, but how it was said."
Scally co-sponsored the resolution.
With the new policy came an immunity clause, which guarantees that victims of sexual assault or anyone who reports such incidents will not be punished for violating University rules such as underage drinking and intervisitation.
Scally sees Sexual Assault Awareness week as a good extension of the progress UP has made on this issue.
"We need to have this awareness week to learn how to protect ourselves and our friends," Scally said. "Hearing about why and how these assaults happen is important because it allows us to learn from past experiences."
