3 Guys Who Blog

UMass Addresses Sexual Assaults on Campus

by Mark Daly

            On a recent weekend morning, representatives from the Center for Women and Community at the University of Massachusetts Amherst placed colored note cards on tables at the Franklin Dining Commons that read, “Do you like this?” “Do you want me to stop?” and “Do you want to have sex?” among other questions aimed at preventing sexual assault on college campuses.

            Similarly, as part of a new campaign led by the Offices of Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan, which focuses on the prevention and education of sexual assaults on college campuses, students are taught the importance of consent and knowing when to intervene if one suspects a sexual assault.

            These are two campaigns that focus on a significant problem at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a problem that officials say has to be addressed.

For Becky Lockwood, associate director of Counseling and Rape Crisis Services at the CWC, the effort to combat sexual assaults at UMass and in the community is the group’s ultimate goal. With more than 1,900 calls to the rape crisis hotline in the last year from both students and the community, Lockwood says the CWC’s work is very important.

            According to the 2011 Annual Security Report provided by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the latest available information, there were a total of 22 forcible sex cases handled by the University of Massachusetts Police Department. Those statistics are higher than each of the previous two years, which reports a total of 21 in 2010 and 14 in 2009.

            Those statistics are similar to nationwide results on sexual assaults. According to the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence, “83 percent of sexual assault victims are under age 25 and one in four sexual assaults occur on college campuses. 
      “I was shocked at the number of women and some men that are sexually assaulted,” Sullivan said at a recent conference on ending sexual assaults sponsored by his office in reference to both the national statistics and the area crimes rates.

            Back in January, representatives from the Office of the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office reported that there were 41 sexual assaults reported to college campus security offices in Hampshire County in 2010, a figure that was troublesome to the representatives and one of the motivations for the Sexual Assault Prevention Campaign. At the same time, representatives indicated “that only 1 in 10 victims ever report an assault.”

            As part of their attempt at preventing sexual assaults on college campuses, representatives from the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office unveiled three new public service announcements depicting scenarios in which college students might find themselves either experiencing or witnessing sexual assaults. The three 30-second PSA’s were created by a joint group of people that included Mary Kociela, the director of Domestic Violence Projects for the DA and local students.

            On the potential affect that the campaign has at the local colleges, Sullivan said, “I think we not only have just the ability, but the growing will to end sexual assaults on college campuses,” a goal that he hopes to accomplish by 2020. 

Students at UMass intervieved agree that sexual assault is a problem that needs to be addressed and it has been a problem for a while.

            Zoë Talkin, a junior intern for The Center for Education Policy & Advocacy at UMass is a co-founder of Coalition to End Rape Culture, a newly registered student organization at UMass whose mission it is “to speak out, stand up, and fight back against sexual violence.” After four semesters with CEPA and learning of recent sexual assaults at both Amherst College and in the Pierpont dormitory at UMass in October 2012, she became involved with the effort to end the culture surrounding sexual assaults because she had become deeply distraught by the incidents, she said.   Talkin thinks more has to be done to prevent sexual assaults at UMass and at colleges everywhere. “I think it’s a horrific issue on every campus…. and at UMass, there is not effective education on campus regarding consent.” She did say however that she feels that the initiatives by both the District Attorney’s office, which include the possibility of creating mandatory workshops about consent for students, and the work done by the Center for Women and Community, are examples of progress being made.  

            For UMass Dean of Students Enku Gelaye, the new campaign does more than just educate students about the importance of consent. She said it encourages students to step in if they see a problem. At the April 5 Sexual Assault Prevention Campaign held at Hampshire College, Gelaye said, “it’s giving people the ability to trust their instincts.” She added that if a situation doesn’t seem right, students should take action.

            All three PSA’s unveiled at the conference attempt to demonstrate how students should take action. In one PSA, titled “Guy Talk,” one actor tells his two friends that the way they are treating women is disrespectable and unacceptable. In another PSA, a guy diverts another guy who won’t leave a woman alone by pulling him back as the woman walks away.

            Similar to the PSA’s, the Coalition to End Rape Culture works to prevent sexual assaults by implementing programs that educate the campus community. One such program, according to Talkin, is the open mike night that the CERC hosts in which students are encouraged to talk about their experiences in a safe environment that show these problems do exist right here at UMass. By bringing people’s attention to sexual assaults, she says that they are working to prevent them from happening in the future.

            UMass sophomore Sean Ohnsman recalls a night freshman year when he and a friend had to stop a male in his building from, what he said, would have resulted in a sexual assault against a female friend. After watching the PSA’s that were released at the conference, he was reminded how important it is to step in if you see a potential problem occurring when you’re out with your friends or anywhere in general. Additionally, he said, “When people are educated, sexual assaults will not happen as much.” He feels the campaigns will have positive results.  

      With the available data and support from students, student organizations at UMass have begun work to decrease those figures and end what Talkin has observed as a “growing stereotype” that sexual assaults are “not a big deal” and “just a part of college,” a reason she says so many sexual assaults go unreported. Citing the two recent alleged sexual assaults that have occurred at Amherst College and at UMass, it has been a goal to educate students in order to change something that has she feels has been turned into a social norm.

            For the several employees and volunteers at the CWC, which has been working to educate students about sexual assaults for 40 years, according to Lockwood, the best way to educate students is through people to people interaction. She said, “The main ways that we try to change the community is through face to face education and   projects.” With more than 30 workshops offered last year to a variety of people, including sorority groups, students in residence halls and RSO’s, Lockwood said “we are able to raise awareness and build skills," an effort she says will help their cause. She added that they work to educate students because she feels that students are more likely to listen to their peers than an outside person, such as herself, a reason she says it is so important to have student advocates educate each other about the importance of consent and the need to prevent sexual assaults.                

            Although these efforts are being made to educate students on the importance of having consent, Sullivan says it will take actions by all students to see change. He said, “It’s really going to come down to student helping student, student informing student, and student empowering themselves to make sure it doesn’t happen to their friends or to themselves.”