The month of April is Sexual Assault Awareness month and though it is drawing to a close, that doesn’t mean the fight stops now. Oregon State has already made some monumental strides towards being a university that doesn’t stand for excuses and doesn’t stand for mishandling of sexual assault allegations. Brenda Tracy, a woman who survived a brutal gang rape by assailants here at Oregon State University was at the head of a large amount of these changes. She approached President Ed Ray about the mishandling of her 1998 case and he apologized and offered her a position here at Oregon State leading the Survivor Advocacy and Resource Center. This month the SARC center and the Women’s Center were able to team up and put on events aimed at sexual assault awareness and supporting survivors. Additionally, Tracy has spoke along with other volunteers about their experiences in classes and to other student organizations or even at events like the recent Take Back the Night rally. Many strides have also been taken by Tracy and President Ed Ray to lobby the PAC-12 conference to bar athletes from transferring schools after suspensions or expulsions for sexual assault. That said, there is still more work to do and the next step is for students here and at universities across the country to take.
Through Student Health Services, your student organization can host a variety of workshops to educate your members. Example topics include drug use, general wellness, nutrition, sexual health, and violence prevention. Violence prevention workshops include discussions on sexual consent, sexual violence, sexual assault prevention, and bystander intervention. Bystander intervention is a crucial tool students can use in the fight to stop sexual assault. The Beavers Give a Dam workshop is the place to start with this fight as the professionals that come to your organization will discuss how to recognize sexual violence, the relationship between sexual violence and substances, go over what the bystander effect and bystander intervention mean, what resources are available on campus, and practical intervention methods.
To inquire about this two hour customizable workshop for your group, or about being trained as a “Beavers Give a Dam” facilitator, please email violenceprevention@oregonstate.edu
Click here to learn more about the other sexual violence workshops listed above.
Let’s continue the fight and stop sexual assault once and for all!