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THE NEWS RECORD NEWSRECORD.ORG
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2014
SG president commends successes of Women’s Center Week dedicated to teaching meaning of consent found positive student response PATRICK MURPHY | STAFF REPORTER
University of Cincinnati students from the Women’s Center kicked off Wednesday’s student government meeting addressing their successes during Consent Culture Week — a weeklong, on-campus campaign that opened the discussion defining and promoting sexual consent. The consent campaign began the first week of school and distributed advertising materials raising awareness. The campaign implemented a pledge board where students could sign, promising to promote and foster a culture of consent on UC’s campus. It gained a total of 462 signatures, including that of UC president Santa Ono. “Survivors of sexual assault felt comfortable enough to come up to us and share their experiences,” said Maria Kothman, a student representative from the women’s center. “That couldn’t be more of a success.” Recently, the White House and members
from the National Campus Leadership Council launched the It’s On Us campaign — a national program that spreads awareness of sexual assault. Politicians, actors, and public figures contributed to the campaign — along with student body president Christina Beer. Beer submitted a piece about sexual assault prevention and awareness efforts being pursued by UC’s Women’s Center. The national campaign also consists of videos from actors speaking out against sexual violence and a call to citizens to take a pledge to help keep men and women safe from sexual assault. The center also plans to continue its efforts in spreading awareness through Elect Her, a conference that encourages women to run for student government and other campus-based official positions in and beyond college. The program will be held on Saturday, Nov. 8 from 10 a.m. to 4.p.m. in the African American Culture and Resource Center The Women’s Center also plans to spread female leadership support through an event called CONNECT, being held Sunday, Oct. 5 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Stratford Heights Pavilion.
FILE ART
SG presdient Christina Beer keeps a focus on women’s rights and advocacy at UC.
NEW INITIATIVE STIRS STUDENT DIALOGUE
SAFETY OFFICALS EDUCATE KATIE COBURN | NEWS EDITOR
A collaborative effort between the University of Cincinnati Police Department, Student Safety Board and Safety Ambassadors is igniting conversation among students to promote safety resources on campus. The organizations set up a “safety table” in residence halls Wednesday. The purpose of the safety table is to educate students, faculty, staff and parents on UCPD’s activity and to ensure a safe environment on campus and within the surrounding community, said Dave Hoffman, UC crime prevention officer. The safety table is an extension of the ‘Be Smart. Be Safe’ initiative that UC is working on. Michele Ralston, UCPD public information officer, created the safety table initiative. Ralston said the safety table has been successful thus far, and that she plans on using this year’s feedback to continue improving and implementing the program. “Our objective is safety and to keep students safe,” Ralston said. “We have to educate them on the resources available to them and to encourage them to make smart decisions about their personal safety.” Student representatives from UC’s Student Safety Board collaborated with UC Safety Ambassadors to conduct the safety table. The interaction with students coming in and out of residence halls may make for a short conversation about safety, but it is getting a foot in the door to inform students, said Caitlin Denny, a fifth-year marketing student. Denney serves as the Student Safety Board’s marketing director. She said the board’s involvement in the safety table includes sparking conversations with students. Ralston — the new Student Safety Board advisor — said it was important for students to learn from their peers, such as the representatives from the board. “I think it’s really a dual mission,” Ralston said. “Our mission is to keep the students safe, and their mission is also student safety. So, we can work together to make a bigger impact.” The safety table reinforces the safety information that first-year students were provided at orientation, Hoffman said. “Sometimes at orientation when they get this information for the first time it’s coupled with so many other things and it gets bogged down,” Hoffman said. “We just want to reinforce that a second time to get the information and resources to them.” Launched in March of 2014, the UC Safety
COULTER LOEB | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Lisa Rodgers, 49, has been a safety ambassador for four months. Ambassadors patrol the surrounding areas of campus every day.
Ambassadors is managed by Michael Myers and provides an extra set of eyes and ears for UC police. Safety Ambassadors are hired for their sociable personalities and customer service skills and train with UCPD to become familiar with the safety services UC provides. Dressed in red and equipped with radios, Safety Ambassadors primarily patrol the south and east sides of campus, such as Short Vine and U-Square, Hoffman said. Ambassadors provide services such as walking with
students who are not comfortable walking alone and helping with directions. “In the first three months we’ve had about 4,700 positive contacts, such as helping with directions, and 1,200-1,500 not so positive contacts, such as witnessing accidents and helping an intoxicated person find a ride home,” Myers said. Safety Ambassadors patrol every day from 6 p.m. to 2:20 a.m. Five ambassadors patrol Sunday through SEE SAFETY PG 3
Preacher’s provocative accusations unite angry students UC’s campus experiences religious protester exercising free speech KATIE COBURN | NEWS EDITOR
McMicken Commons transformed into a platform for the expression of free speech Monday and Tuesday afternoon as irritated students gathered and heckled a passionate religious protestor. Jessee Morrell, Open Air Outreach ministry advocate, said the purpose of his first visit to the University of Cincinnati is to bear a message of good and bad news for students who sin. “The bad news is that God is going to judge your life, it’s Heaven or Hell when you die and God hates sin. He condemns it,” Morrell said. “The good news is that Jesus died for our sin and through His blood there is forgiveness, but in order to receive it you need to repent. So we’re here to call sinners to repentance.” Having traveled to over 100 universities across the nation and abroad for over 10 years, Morrell said he holds a banner with large letters to attract students’ attention. The banner he held Monday and Tuesday read ‘repent or perish’ in a flaming font. He paired his signs with shouts of provocative phrases to provoke a response and debate. While some students attempted to tune out Morrell’s preaching with speakers blaring AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell,” other students were attracted by the spectacle and word of mouth.
TONY JOHNSON | CONTRIBUTOR
Jessee Morrell stations himself in the center of campus to draw attention to his message.
“It’s an interesting way to display your first amendment rights, that’s for sure,” said Jared Deubler, a first-year industrial management student. Morrell preached radical beliefs that aligned with his views, but not those of the students that he attracted, Deubler said. “Our objective is dialogue with the students — question and answer,” Morrell said. “What I’m here to do is trying to reason with them, trying to give them a reason to believe in Jesus, a reason to repent, a reason to turn from their sins.”
Morrell said his target audience is those who disagree with him. “I want those who don’t agree with Christianity to voice their opposition so that we could discuss it,” Morrell said. “So when I’m preaching and I have a crowd of hostile, angry people who don’t believe the Bible, that’s my target audience; and so long as it’s only heckling and questions and mocking, I’ll address it and talk to them.” Deubler said Morrell was misquoting the Bible by referencing only portions of passages and taking it out of context to
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distort the meaning. “He told women that they should learn inside,” Deubler said. Haley Marshall, a first-year prepharmacy student, said that she thinks Morrell was making an “ass” of himself. “I heard someone say earlier that he was saying girls get raped because of the way they dress, which is a huge statement to make,” Marshall said. “He’s been saying that people are going to Hell for being sinners. He’s basically just calling everyone out, and obviously people don’t like that.” The majority of students in the crowd hurled insults aimed at Morrell and his statements. “I think it’s a right to free speech, but I think he’s preaching hate,” said Greyson Elliott, a first-year international business student. “Honestly I don’t think he should be allowed here. I think we should get him out of here, but we can’t because it’s a free country. A lot of people get really heated up when people start preaching things like that, like hate and going to hell. It’s just a really sensitive topic.” After observing the situation, some students decided to peacefully protest Morrell’s preaching. “Yesterday when I was out here, he proceeded to tell me that I was a terrorist and that I was a threat to national security for being homosexual, so I decided to come out today and show my pride,” said Chris Poole, a first-year SEE PROTEST PG 3
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