The University of Memphis has many organizations that adhere to the needs of students who have been sexually assaulted. The Student Healing and Recovery Association, the Counseling Center, the Office of Institutional Equity, the Dean of Students Office and Safety Net all serve as resources for sexual assault victims. The Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Coalition (SAPAC) has become the newest addition.
The coalition has two co-chairs, Abby Huber and Ashton Toone, who were appointed by Justin Lawhead, associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students, and Sally Parrish, associate dean of Student Leadership and Involvement.
Toone and Huber, seniors at the U of M, said they wanted to be a part of the coalition because they were aware of the severity of sexual misconduct and students’ feedback on the issue.
“Most of what I was hearing in town halls and meetings with administrators was that students don’t feel like the university is taking this issue seriously, and there are a lack of resources that students have access to when dealing with any sort of sexual misconduct,” Toone said.
Toone said SAPAC does not have any formal organization membership at the moment, but she hopes to collaborate with other organizations, so everyone is provided with necessary resources.
In addition to collaborations, Toone said SAPAC plans to bring new initiatives and activities to campus.
“We plan to offer large-scale programming (similar to what SAC does with its events) to the campus that will surround issues of sexual assault and awareness as a means of primary intervention,” Toone said.
Toone said the coalition also plans to create a peer program composed of students who will lead workshops that focus on the university’s policies of sexual misconduct, consent and bystander intervention.
“We also will be coordinating with the the university task force, academic departments and other student organizations to make sure that these efforts don’t just stay in one part of campus and that we reach as many students, faculty and staff as possible,” Toone said.
Toone said she hopes the peer education program will make it easier for students and sexual assault victims to have discussions about sexual misconduct.
“It’s a topic that can be easy to shy away from, and although it is very serious, we need to foster an environment where people can comfortably learn and ask questions to prevent this behavior from continuing on our campus,’’ Toone said.
Huber said one of the reasons this coalition was formed was because students wanted a space to talk about these issues with others students.
“A big piece of initial feedback that we received was that students wanted this information to be presented to them by their fellow students, people they interact with and know,” Huber said. “I hope that this, along with our goal to create regularly anticipated events will help ingrain a solid culture of awareness and support in terms of sexual violence at the U of M.”
Applications for the executive board will be available March 1, and Peer Educator applications will be available March 12 on the SAPAC Tiger Zone page. Formal programming for the coalition will occur in the fall.
