Can you tell us a little about your work as a Speak Up peer educator? When did you first get involved with Speak Up? What do you hope to see as a result of the programs produced by Speak Up within your final years on campus and beyond? I got involved in Speak UP my freshman year after receiving a presentation from two peer educators on sexual assault prevention. I have always been extremely passionate about social justice and human rights advocacy and although sexual assault is such an important component of that, it is rarely addressed openly and honestly. Far too often, people do not understand sexual assault in its complexity, blame the victim, or conceptualize it as an issue that does not apply to them directly. Seeing women stand up to these problematic perspectives and engage students in such an important conversation really inspired me and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.
Right now, Bucknell’s campus climate can be characterized as a rape culture. Although not all students perpetrate sexual assault, the sexist nature of the social structure and the prevalence of unhealthy sexual attitudes normalize, excuse, and even encourage sexual violence. Through Speak UP, I hope to help students think critically about their behavior, the language they use and the way they treat one another and motivate them to be positive bystanders in preventing sexual assault. I also want to help create an environment that is supportive to survivors, and empower them the way peer educators empowered me my freshman year. I already see so much progress being made on our campus and I am amazed by the compassion I see my fellow Bucknellians exhibit everyday, but we still have such a long way to go. I would love to see Bucknell transform into a culture of consent, where all students can truly say they feel safe, valued, and respected.
Additionally, you’re a member of Professor Flack’s research team on sexual assault. It is understood that Professor Flack has done lots studies on sexual assault in the past, highlighting some of today’s most important issues specifically on college campuses. What is your specific research investigating?Using the Revised Sexual Experiences Survey (RSES), our research team collects data on rates of nonconsensual groping, rape, and attempted rape on our campus. We analyze contextual factors related to assault, such as the nature of the victim-perpetrator relationship, and what tactics perpetrators most commonly use. Year after year, Professor Flack’s research indicates that acquaintance assault is the most common, and perpetrators usually commit their crime by exploiting a victim’s vulnerability due to intoxication. This year, we also studied female facilitation and examined how women perpetuate rape culture through behaviors such as slut-shaming and hazing practices. I am doing my honors thesis under Professor Flack next year and I am still trying to select the particular focus of my research. I am considering researching institutional betrayal in survivors who are marginalized by their race or sexuality, examining how our students define consent and how important obtaining it is to them, or male facilitation. I am hoping that further insight into any one of these subjects can assist in developing a clearer understanding of how rape culture functions in the specific context of our campus, so that we are able to address it more effectively.
Do you think Bucknell has more of a problem with sexual assault more so than other colleges/universities? How can we as students work to prevent assault?Yes, Bucknell has more of a problem with sexual assault than our peer institutions. Professor Flack’s research consistently produces astonishing results; each year we find that about half of the women on this campus experience nonconsensual groping, and one in three experience rape or attempted rape. Sexual assault can exist in the context of queer spectrum relationships and be perpetrated against males as well, and these equally traumatic experiences should not be treated as a footnote in the conversation. However, I do not think we will ever eradicate sexual assault if are not direct and honest about the fact that the vast majority of sexually violent acts on our campus are perpetrated by men against women. Furthermore, the men who are committing these crimes are not sociopaths that are somehow separate from the rest of us; they are our classmates, fraternity brothers, teammates, and friends, and are normal in every other sense of the word. Therefore, we do not need to just be looking at the individual psyches of rapists; we need to reexamine what it means to be a “normal” man on Bucknell’s campus, and question why these norms of masculinity engender sexual violence.
How are men constrained by gender expectations on our campus? How do we teach men to treat and talk about women? Why is this problematic? Students can work to prevent assault by critically analyzing and disrupting these gender norms, and holding their peers accountable for doing the same. We can all choose to stand up against sexist comments, slut shaming, victim blaming, or jokes about sexual assault. We can choose to treat each other as valuable individuals deserving of dignity and sexual autonomy, rather than evaluate one another as sexual objects. We can choose to treat asking for consent as an integral and necessary part of sexual activity, and most importantly, choose to respect one another’s answer; only “yes” means “yes,” and “no” does not mean, “convince me.” There are so many people on this campus, women and men alike, who care about this issue and want to make change. If we stand together in making these choices we can make a difference; we can make Bucknell a place where sexual assault and violence against women is a thing of the past, instead of the norm. One more sexual assault is too many, and we all have a role to play in ending the violence.
Can you tell us a little about your involvement with Psi Chi, the psychology honors society, here on campus?I am the president of Psi Chi, which has been a wonderful experience as it has allowed me give back to Bucknell and get to know the amazing faculty in the Psychology Department much better. This semester Psi Chi’s main accomplishment has been our “Clinical Career Speaker Series;” under Professor Boyatzis’ guidance we have brought local professionals in the field of psychology to talk to students to help them discover a variety occupational options. We are also in the process of planning a psychology internship fair for later in the semester.
You’re also the leader of the Sorority Ally Training. What exactly does this role entail and what do you hope to see as a result of this new program?Sorority Ally Training is a program Speak UP piloted this semester designed to expand the number of students on campus who are educated in campus sexual assault policy, are trained in survivor support, and have an understanding of rape culture. We were hoping to provide students with a space to discuss their concerns regarding our campus climate, and devise potential solutions for addressing these issues. My role as a leader entailed providing information to the allies, and facilitating meaningful conversation among them. There were also two groups of fraternity men who were trained as allies. I hope that this program will empower the trained individuals to be role models on our campus, and that they will act as positive bystanders and encourage their friends to do the same. These training programs will continue next semester as well, and any men or women who are interested in participating should email Padma Ravichandran at pr021@bucknell.edu!
AND you’re on the Bison Girls Dance Team?! You seem to be one of the most involved people on this campus! How do you balance all of your extracurricular involvement with schoolwork?It’s not very hard for me to balance my schoolwork and extracurricular activities because I truly enjoy my classes and everything I am involved in. I love to learn and am absolutely fascinated by my two majors, Women and Gender Studies and Psychology, I am deeply committed to the goals of Speak UP, Professor Flack’s research team, and the Bucknell Brigade, and I adore my teammates and love to dance. Managing my time is easier some days than others, but I can always find time to fulfill my commitments since I am passionate about all of them.
Where do you see yourself after graduation?After graduation I am hoping to go to law school, and to pursue a career in human rights law. I want to use my law degree to make changes to the racist, heterosexist, sexist, abelist, and classist tenets of our legal system, and to advocate for the interests of marginalized populations.
Quick Qs:
- Favorite spot on campus: The ADPi suite, or sitting on the top of the admissions building with Brandon Farrell
- Class at Bucknell: Either the pre-trip classes I took before traveling with the Bucknell Brigade to Nicaragua, or Feminist Philosophy with Sheila Lintott
- Freeze Flavor: Anything with peanut butter fudge in the hole
Three fun facts:
- I have a two-year-old brother
- My brother is cuter than all other babies combined and is probably going to marry Blue Ivy Carter
- I’m obsessed with my brother