Fraternity members at Ball State are participating in multiple initiatives to both learn about safety practices and teach other college students about them as well.
Ball State's Interfraternity council will be involved in their first Sexual Assault Awareness Week, starting Monday.
“IFC created this programming to help the fraternity men understand their role in preventing sexual assault and to provide education on this topic that is at the forefront of higher education,”Kari Murphy, assistant director of Student Life, said in an email.
The week will begin with sexual assault education for the community on Monday, co-sponsored by Sigma Nu, one of IFC's fraternities.
IFC will participate in sexual assault awareness programs for the next three days, including supporting Alpha Chi Omega and Alpha Omicron Pi's Take Back the Night. The candlelit walk focuses on spreading knowledge about domestic violence and sexual assault.
Katie Slabaugh, Associate Dean of Students and Title IX Coordinator will also be speaking on sexual assault prevention at IFC's delegation.
Murphy said IFC will be incorporating aspects of the national “It's On Us” campaign into the week-long program.
“It's On Us” is a campaign launched by President Obama that calls for the end of sexual assaults on campus.
“The fraternities are creating statements [and a] stance to support the ‘It’s On Us’ campaign and to speak to how our fraternities will not tolerate sexual assault,” Murphy said in an email.
Three Ball State fraternities will also participate in The Fraternal Health and Safety Initiative, which is a program developed by James R. Favor and Co. The program’s main goal is to lessen binge drinking and hazing. Eight national fraternities will participate including Sigma Chi, Lamda Chi Alpha and Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
Molly Schlax, Flesichman Representative, said fraternities were chosen to lead the initiative for a reason.
“Greek is such a large population of students at so many campuses. Fraternities are by far in the best position to serve these changes,” Schlax said.
About 1 in 5 women will be sexually assault while attending college, according to FHSI’s website.
“[The training] is important. It’s ridiculous the amount of people you hear dying from drinking too much or who fell asleep on their back and choked on their own vomit,” Ryan Linder, Sigma Chi vice president, said.
About 68% of students have consumed alcohol in the last 30 days, according to FHSI’s website. Of those students who consumed alcohol in the last month, 61% were underage.
Linder said he does not feel like changes need to be made in his specific fraternity, but overall the program and It's On Us training are beneficial.
“Our house is really good, sometimes we overboard being safe,” Linder said. “We have a police officer that comes to all of our parties. We have a risk manager, and a group of lesser risk managers, just making sure everything is alright. If you aren’t doing anything, you just walk around and make sure everyone is safe.”
Linder said the initiatives together are just about making sure everyone knows how to stay safe
“I definitely think with the training, people will become more informed [about] what the risks are,” Linder said. “We can have just as much fun drinking less than a fifth an entire night. We don't have to go out and party hard.”
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