Program designed to raise assault awareness

By Katie Dooling

Motivated by student concern and unreported occurrences of sexual assault, the Office of Student Life launched a new campaign this fall aimed at increasing awareness.

Lisa Millora, Assistant Dean for Student Life, helped develop the campaign alongside students. She said students came to the Office of Student Life because they wanted to take a more proactive approach to the problem of sexual assault.

Evidence of the campaign is all over campus in the form of flyers, pamphlets, signs and magnets, each designed with a different purpose, said Millora. Information can be found in bathrooms, locker rooms, residence halls and other public places.

"These pieces [of information on sexual assault] provide students with information - if they or someone they know becomes the victim of sexual assault," said Millora.

The pamphlets and flyers inform victims of what to do in case of sexual assault, such as where to go, who to call and how to deal with what has happened. Millora said magnets containing numbers to call in the event of a sexual assault have also been distributed to all residence halls.

"The idea is 'let's educate the campus community on the realities of sexual assault,' and also to raise awareness on what resources are available," said Millora.

According to Millora, a rise in sexual assaults doesn't trigger a response the way a rise in theft would.

"Underreporting is one of the biggest travesties of sexual assault," said Health Educator Jeanne Zeamba.

According to Zeamba, this campaign raises education and awareness, and shows victims that they don't have to be alone in such a difficult time.

As the leader of the Peer Health Educator (PHE) program, Zeamba works with students to improve awareness of issues on campus at Santa Clara. One of the divisions of PHE is the Rape Education and Prevention Program (REPP).

Sophomore psychology major Erin Schoenfelder is a member of REPP. She, along with other students, help to make known the issue of sexual assaults.

Schoenfelder said that in the past, REPP has tried to spread awareness about sexual assault through events like "Take Back the Night," in which students, faculty, staff and others spoke out against rape. She said that REPP recently worked with the Office of Student Life to develop their plan for the new sexual assault campaign.

"We had to brainstorm ideas on how to get the information out there," Schoenfelder said.

Schoenfelder also said the members of REPP are most concerned with the fact that sexual assaults often go unreported.

"Our main goal is to get the word out there and that [sexual assault] does happen on campus," said Schoenfelder.

Dean for Student Life Jeanne Rosenberger said that statistically, about one in four college students are raped, which is radically higher than the number that gets reported on Santa Clara's campus. Rosenberger said, however, that the new campaign is not in response to a specific rise in on-campus sexual assaults.

"The more information the students have, the more safe they will keep themselves and their friends," said Rosenberger.

Students can report a sexual assault to a variety of places such as the YWCA, the police and the Office of Student Life. Rosenberger also said that there are a lot of options at Santa Clara for those who report sexual assault, such as the Campus Advocacy Program.

Contact Katie Dooling at (408) 554-4546 Kdooling@scu.edu.