April is sexual assault awareness month, and Ball State is sponsoring its own week to promote awareness on sexual assault from April 3 to April 10.
The Sexual Threats and Oppression Prevention (STOP) team, which is a part of the Counseling Center, is sponsoring events to help educate students about sexual assault.
“There’s simply no such thing as too much education,” said Ashley Boester-Dean, a Ball State therapist, in an email to Greg Wright, executive writer and media relations manager. “We feel very strongly that these activities, combined with other initiatives including the Step In, Speak Up program … illustrate the university’s strong commitment to students’ health and safety.”
In their lifetime, one in five women have been raped, according to a study done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A screening of The Invisible War, an investigative documentary on rape in the U.S. military, kicked off the week of events at 7 p.m. on April 3 in Teachers College room 120.
There will also be two sessions of bystander intervention training – one from 6 to 8:30 p.m. April 7 and one from 1 to 3:30 p.m. April 10. They will be held in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center, rooms 237 and 301, respectively. Students can learn how to intervene in situations where the people around them may need help, which includes instances of sexual assault.
Students can also come to ‘The Talk Show’ April 6 from 7 to 8 p.m. in the David Letterman Building 125 to learn about what constitutes sexual assault and the components of consensual sex.
Continuing with the trend of talking about consensual sex, there will also be an event focused on what consent is from 7 to 8 April 9 where students can ask anonymous questions by texting to a panel of experts.
“We want to take every opportunity available to educate and empower our students, and this panel of experts can speak to specific questions a student may have regarding sexual assault or consensual sex, but may not feel comfortable asking in any other format,” Boester-Dean said.
The panel will include Mike Gillilan, the director of student rights and community standards; Katie Slabaugh, the title IX coordinator for Student Affairs; a University Police Department officer; Allison Wynbissinger, the victim advocate; a counselor from the Counseling Center and a sexual assault nurse.
“We take this issue very seriously, and the STOP team is active during the entire academic year in programming aimed at raising awareness and prevention of sexual assaults,” Boester-Dean said. “That’s why we’ve been doing the Awareness Week events for more than 20 years. We know that educating our students is one of the most powerful tools to empower students to stand up against cultural messages that allow sexual assault to continue."
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