Red Zone Week activities successful
The activities of Red Zone Week are over but sexual assault and violence education efforts will continue, said Rachel Hickman, sexual assault and anti-violence coordinator.
“[Sexual violence] is a very real concern for any college campus. USU is no exception to that,” Hickman said. “The most vulnerable population to sexual assault is women ages 16 to 24. That’s a college campus.”
Sgt. Joe Huish, USU Police, said the issues Red Zone Week brings to light are important ones.
“If you understand that sometimes rape is referred to as the unfinished murder, then I would say even a single prevention is worth any effort we give [Red Zone],” Huish said.
Hickman said although Red Zone Week is over, it is important for students to remain aware of the dangers that are inherent for this time of year.
“I would say, be aware of your surroundings, listen to your intuition. When you’re in a situation and something feels uncomfortable, get out of it,” she said.
Sgt. Joe Huish, USU Police, said from the beginning of school to Thanksgiving Break, freshmen women are especially vulnerable to sexual assault and rape for a variety of reasons.
“For the first time they don’t have that close support group of family and friends looking out for them,” Huish said. “They are also very eager to make friends and fit in a college environment. Maybe they do some things they weren’t doing in high school which could include drinking or drugs.”
Responsibility for Red Zone safety rests on both male and female students Hickman said.
“I very much believe this is a two-fold process. Men need to be aware and good men need to stand up against violence. But women also need to be aware of the possibility [of sexual assault],” she said.
According to the USU Police 2003 Statistical Report, two rapes and four sexual assaults were reported to campus police last year. A similar report from the Logan Police Department cites 15 reports of rape and 15 reports of sexual assault in 2003.
Huish said usually only 10 percent of rapes are reported, but the rate of reporting may be higher in Cache Valley.
“Students know if they report these things, action will be taken. In other communities these cases may be less likely to be reported because of lack of education programs,” Huish said. “We do educate. We do aggressively prosecute.”
Hickman said she feels both the campus and community are very supportive of anti-sexual violence efforts. The community is very respectful of sexual violence survivors and has outstanding resources for victims to take advantage of, she said.
A letter from the USU Campus Chief of Police Steven Mecham on the USU Police Web site says, “Our greatest concern continues to be violent crimes… We continue to work hard to educate our students on ways to prevent sexual assault.”
Huish said he felt one of the biggest successes of Red Zone Week was the large show of support by male students on campus because support by male groups is generally rare. Huish said this topic is something men are uncomfortable talking about.
“What I was impressed with was having the Sigma Chi fraternity show up in mass. There were possibly more guys than ladies at our presentation in the ballroom and that’s incredibly rare.”
Huish also said men may not feel sexual violence is a topic they need to be concerned with because they don’t feel at risk and are not committing sex crimes themselves.
“If we had enough guys attending those kind of things and hearing the things we heard, we wouldn’t have to have RAD, we wouldn’t have to talk to the ladies,” he said. “It’s not the ladies that are having the problem, its the guys. They’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.”
Hickman said she also noticed the Sigma Chi fraternity and was especially impressed by the pledge they signed vowing to not commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women.
“I was really excited to see them there. They are a great group of guys and I look forward to working with them again in the future.”
Hickman said she hopes to bring a national organization “Men Can Stop Rape” to USU’s campus.
“I believe men are key to stopping sexual violence,” she said. “We have a lot of wonderful men on campus and my hope is that over the course of time I’ll be able to capitalize on that goodness. I hope to be able to utilize these wonderful men to help stop rapes on our campus.”
Sexual violence is a mens issue too, Hickman said. One in twelve men will be raped she said and 95 percent of rapes against both genders are perpetrated by men, she said.
Hickman said education about sexual violence will be most effective if it is presented to both genders.
“The only person that can ultimately prevent a rape from occurring is a rapist. If we can somehow have an impact on that male minority perhaps we can prevent rape,” she said.
Huish also said he thinks educating men about sexual violence is important.
“If we educate enough guys I think we change the perceptions that are around sexual assault and relationships between men and women. I think they start to understand more what women are dealing with and are a lot more sensitive.”
While Hickman said she plans to continue to promote activities that teach women self-defense and awareness, she said it’s important to remember that just because a woman has been taught how to stay safe does not mean if she is assaulted the fault lies with her.
“Blame never falls on someone who survives sexual violence, it is always on the rapist,” she said.
This year’s Red Zone Week was the most successful ever, Hickman said, and she hopes it will be even bigger next year. Hickman said she is hoping to move the event outside next year.
The two main goals of Red Zone Week, Hickman said, were to create awareness of this time of year and getting the SAAVI name out to the public since it is a new position and she said those were achieved.
Huish said its hard to know how many students were impacted through activities like Red Zone Week, but he felt the activities were a success.
While she said she is glad SAAVI is being linked with Red Zone, Hickman said she hopes students are aware of the other services SAAVI offers.
“I’m also available for those who are experience other forms of dating violence and domestic violence,” she said. “We have a married population here on campus and domestic violence is unfortunately something that happens. SAAVI is a resource for faculty, and students, male and female.”
Hickman said SAAVI is available to friends and families of victims as those who want to know what they can to do help.
-bnelson@cc.usu.edu