Volume #99 | Issue #3 | Sept. 29, 2014 | depauliaonline.com
We’re done
talking. Let’s do something about sexual assault
DePaul makes an effort to meet student and national concerns By Courtney Jacquin Editor-in-Chief
When Ellie Dunbar came to campus for her freshman orientation this summer, she received an introduction to all things college life — including sexual assault. “We were told about consent,” Dunbar said. “But we weren’t given any info about how often (sexual assault) happens in Chicago.” Dunbar and her peers were also introduced to the term “bystander intervention,” the philosophy and strategy for prevention of sexual assault being enforced by DePaul and recommended by the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. “(The Theatre School performers) did a whole performance about the social aspects of college and there was a whole scene about bystander intervention and what you can do in a situation,” Dunbar said. “They were better at bringing up the topic, but not at drilling it into our heads ... they just talked at us a lot, for some of the people it just went over their heads and it wasn’t as in-depth as I thought it should be.” Freshmen should take note — according to the National Institute of Justice’s 2007 report “The Campus Sexual Assault Study,” freshmen and sophomores are at a higher risk of being sexually assaulted than upperclassman, with one in five women being survivors of sexual assault. Moreover, the time from the beginning of school to Thanksgiving break — DePaul’s autumn quarter — is described as the Red Zone,
Tackling the issue: time to clear the animosity and ignorance
an apparent increased risk for sexual COMMENTARY assaults on students, according to a 2008 study by the Journal of American By Zoe Krey College Health. Opinions Editor DePaul is making efforts to not have these ideas simply go over students’ heads, implementing new training programs and We know the statistics, we know resources for students who are survivors the rumors, we know the rhetoric, but of sexual assault, as well as preventing do we recognize the misconceptions? sexual assault. The changes come at a time Rape, sexual abuse and assault, when sexual assault on college campuses relationship violence, domestic is becoming an violence, and increasing issue, stalking have new laws and tragically become a protocols are set part of our day-toin place by the day vocabulary and government and garnered national DePaul students are attention. DePaul is fresh off the protests no exception. Last of last spring. year’s controversies “We are calling and accusations it the ‘Take care against the Athletic DePaul’ philosophy,” Department and said Rima Shah, the DePaul’s overall sexual assault and sexual assault violence prevention and awareness Nick Cannella specialist from the policy became a President of DePaul Office of Health defining moment Men Against Sexual Promotion and for the university. Violence Wellness. “We tell A dialogue students that you surfaced, pitting should take care of yourself, so we want you the university on one side and the to be aware of resources available so you students on the other. This is not to can excel academically, professionally, say that all students were opposed to emotionally, everything. But we also want our university’s actions, but to suggest you to understand that you are part of a that for some the bottom line of safety community, DePaul is a community; it is became blurred with the excitement everyone’s responsibility to look out for of protests and civil disobedience and each other.” an inherent effort to seek answers in Other resources for incoming freshman the name of justice. While mistakes were made from both camps, it’s clear See EFFORT, page 8 that this year will have to take on a
What I understood is that a lot of guys really don’t know how far is too far.
different tone if we are to effectively work together towards making DePaul a safe and comfortable environment. Accusations against DePaul’s Athletic Department and the efforts of Public Safety produced questions about DePaul’s policies, disciplinary proceedings, campus rape culture, legality issues of compliance with state and federal laws, and an overall concern of a certain lack of transparency and inclusion on the university’s part. The 201314 academic year ended with an overwhelming amount of frustration from both the university and students leaving the issue largely unresolved. With the start of this academic year, DePaul has made changes that include a revised policy and new programs. But despite these efforts, why is there still a disconnect between students and the administration? Part of the answer is lack of awareness. While the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness and Public Safety have made leaps in updating policy and seriously addressing the needs of students, there seems to be a challenge in rebranding these university institutions after last year’s fallout. There are two sides to this problem: the university must not only send out new initiatives to students through email, but understand that the students assume these initiatives are spurious in the first place. The university needs to recreate their image by starting with a direct message on the difference
See CLEAR, page 13