No students showed up to the Falcon Safe presentation on affirmative consent on Tuesday, Sept. 20.
The presentation was given by Campus Police Chief Tom Gallivan, and Director of Diversity Title IX Coordinator Valyncia Raphael.
Although not present, Associate Dean of Student Health and Wellness Dr. Hillary Mennela put this project together.
Subjects such as sexual assault, prevention, stalking, Title IX, and domestic abuse were discussed at length.
Gallivan gave a distinction on dealing with misconduct on campus and outside of campus.
He said during the presentation, “We really try to use common sense when it comes to dating or domestic violence. We don’t deal with criminal definitions, because as students on campus community, you don’t need to know the technical terms.”
One the most important subjects in the presentation that was stressed was the federal law Title IX. Raphael spoke in depth about it.
She said, “Title IX, [is] the federal law that was passed in 1972. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. Now it’s really straight forward in terms of language but its focus is really broad.
“That covers gender identity, sexual orientation and also includes sexual harassment in dating, domestic violence and stalking. This can also include unwanted communication.”
Since no students showed up, both Gallivan and Dr. Raphael noted what they want students to know.
Gallivan said, “Knowledge is power[…] a lot of people frankly don’t think about these things, but it’s a reality.
“It does happen and being knowledgeable about the dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, bystander intervention; You may never have to use it but you’ll be prepared to use it.
He continued, “Take advantage while you’re here at school with these things. We’re very informal. This is a conversation not a lecture.”
Dr. Raphael went on to say, “For me, since I’m new and I started in July, part of this presentation is to let people know that I’m here that I exist and what I can do in terms of taking reports and working with them in case they’ve been victimized in some way[…] to work with us so that they can stay on campus and they can go to class and they can continue to succeed.
“Because some students suffer in silence even if they don’t want to talk about being abused. That has to do with stigma and this presentation helps us start to break down that stigma and provide an environment for people to start talking about it.”
