Take a stand against sexual assault

We are excited to see that The Chronicle’s independent Editorial Board has taken an interest in sexual assault at Duke in their recent editorials, “New guidelines alone cannot fix gender issues” and “Students must work for positive gender relations.” In light of Vice President Joe Biden’s recent speech regarding sexual assault on college campuses, now is the time for Duke to be a leader on this issue. With the alarmingly high prevalence of gender violence at Duke, we as students must advocate for sexual assault prevention education as a first step toward changing our campus culture.

Out of our four years at Duke, only 30 minutes are spent on sexual assault prevention education. Combating gender violence requires more than just 30 minutes of freshman orientation programming. This is where a shift in campus culture must take place. Bystander Intervention Training, or the Prevent Act Challenge Teach program, equips all students, male and female, with practical methods to prevent gender violence from occurring. Select student groups have already received a pilot version of the training and can speak to its effectiveness. This interactive training should be a staple in first-years’ introduction to Duke.

We plan to lobby administrators to mandate Bystander Intervention Training for all first-years. As evidence of campus support for this initiative, we will present administrators with a petition signed by Duke undergraduates. If you believe this training should be mandatory for all first-years, please show your support by signing the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/wal2011/petition.html. (You can also find the petition and more information on our Facebook event, “Preventing Sexual Assault at Duke: We Need to Do More.”)

Because upperclassmen often set the tone for life at Duke, we recognize the importance of spreading awareness of sexual assault prevention among upperclassmen as well. Thus, we will be offering PACT training, a more comprehensive curriculum, to student groups starting next year. If your organization is interested in receiving this training, please contact us at changeatduke2011@gmail.com.

We agree that student groups must step up as campus leaders to show that “gender violence and misogyny will not be tolerated.” Extending Bystander Intervention Training to all first-years and making in-depth training available to students groups are positive first steps. We are confident that they will have a real impact.

Samera Beshir

Trinity ’11

Catherine Meyer

Trinity ’11

Emily Starrette

Trinity ’12

Sherril Yuen

Trinity ’11