Student government, following an email sent by the student executive committee, discussed two Rave Alerts involving sexual assault incidents at its Oct. 20 meeting.
The alerts were sent to all students on Oct. 18 nearly two hours apart. One involved an incident at near Davis Hall and Martin Drive on Oct. 7 and the other involved an incident on Oct.14 at the Rike Center.
Senator and treasurer Jeremy Paul, who is listed as the point of contact in the email, opened the discussion.
“I think it was very eye-opening for all the people on this campus when we received those Rave Alerts, I think it was very important for us as student government executive officers to come out and stand up against these kinds of activities happening on our campus,” Paul said. “I think that this is just a small first step in making sure that this is a campus that is conducive to all students.”
Paul said that programs such as Safezone and Team Consent should be made mandatory to reduce rape culture on campus.
President of student government Bethany Blinsky said that making Team Consent mandatory was one of the platforms that she had supported when she had run for her position.
A student senator suggested that more comprehensive training be put in place for incoming students at First Flight. The assembly discussed the issues involved with getting freshmen to attend First Flight events.
Vice President Brenna Helm said that getting students to First Flight was one goal but training them to act as a result of Team Consent was another.
“We already have a very active WGSS department, very active groups working towards that but I also think that this is a matter of us standing up,” Helm said. “But it also is before that, you know, if you hear something that could probably be constituted as aggression or gender, sexist kind of things, it’s a matter of just being able to address that when it’s at that stage before it progresses into ‘something might be taking place, what do I do’?”
