On-campus rape is common in the fall, ‘Red Zone’ event spreads awareness
There are more on-campus rapes from August to October than any other time of year.
For this reason, the SAAVI office held its annual Red Zone event on Wednesday. The event was held on the Taggart Student Center patio from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Jenny Erazo, director of the SAAVI office, said there are more rapes during this time of year because “people are moving out of their homes, experimenting with new things for the first times and are unsure of the impact of their decisions.”
The event is focused on educating students about sexual assault, the definition and importance of consent, and the resources that are available to them. While SAAVI led the event, CAPS, CAPSA, The Family Place, the USU Police Department, and other groups also participated in the event. Each group had its own table with representatives passing out information about services, and games to help get students involved.
CAPS and SAAVI are both on-campus counseling services available to students for free. CAPSA and The Family Place are counseling services available to anyone in the community.
The event was carnival-themed, and included games such as a donut-eating contest, spin the wheel and a dart contest. Dakota Osmer, a senior and winner of the donut-eating contest, says he chose to participate in the event because he “feels like it is a good opportunity to recruit good men to his fraternity, Delta Sigma Phi, and to help their members get involved in a good cause.”
Many different students volunteered at the event. Emma Smith, a junior, chose to volunteer because her sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, “works directly with CAPSA to help prevent sexual assault and domestic violence.”
Red Zone focused specifically on the definition of consent, and its importance.
“Consent is a mutual understanding of either physical, verbal, or emotional action,” said Michelle Hyde, a representative of The Family Place, a counseling center in Logan.
“We try our best to get this information out about consent,” said Jessica Vasholtz, sergeant of the USU Police Department. Vasholtz explained that while a large number of campus assaults occur each year, very few are actually reported to the police. In 2015, only 5 rapes were reported to the police, while 32 were reported to counseling offices at USU.
The Alcohol and Drug Prevention program at USU displayed a sign that read “my cup is not my consent,” reminding people that alcohol usage does not qualify as sexual consent.
Jenny Erazo, director of the SAAVI office says they “put on this event to raise awareness about sexual assault in a fun setting, and remind students about the resources available to them.”