The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: sexual assualt awareness month

  • Take Back the Night coordinators raise concerns about event speaker

    Take Back the Night coordinators raise concerns about event speaker

    by Matthew Taylor

    Corrections: The event was not hosted by CAT or the North Coast Rape Crisis Team but instead the Women’s Center at CPH, they were important guests and coordinators there.

    Cal Poly Humboldt’s Campus Advocacy Team (CAT), along with the help of the North Coast Rape Crisis Center, hosted the annual international event known as Take Back the Night last Friday. This college campus-focused event looks to empower women and other vulnerable minorities. This year’s event began with a presentation by Dr. Rachel King, a specialist in issues of sexual misconduct within higher education. Her presentation explored the usage of restorative justice in situations of sexual assault on college campuses.

    Restorative justice focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with their victim(s) and the community at-large. The framework often assumes that the offender committed their crime due to a perceived need in their life that wasn’t being met or a lack of knowledge towards the harm they inflicted. Proponents say that restorative justice has the capability to be incredibly effective and healing to all parties involved in a crime. However, should we assume sexual assault falls into this category of effectiveness?

    An hour into the presentation, many participants were disheartened, disgusted, and frustrated. At multiple points in the Zoom-based presentation, King implied that many perpetrators of sexual assault did so based on a simple ignorance or misunderstanding of the situation. While this could be true for a minority of cases, statistically, the vast majority of sexual assaults are done with the explicit understanding that these actions were unwanted.

    “It’s not about ignorance, it’s about power and control,” an event coordinator said after the presentation.

    Many of the event coordinators present refused to speak on the record regarding their feelings on the hour-long speech. Their reasons ranged from the sensitivity of the topic to a perceived backlash from the administration.

    “I personally have a very hard time with restorative justice as a survivor myself, working as an advocate, and hearing survivors on a daily basis,” another event coordinator said. “I’m not saying that the normal system is [made] to protect the survivors in any way. It’s not. The traditional justice system is very re-victimizing and very re-traumatizing for survivors, but the model that was shown today could also be set up for survivors to be re-victimized and re-traumatized.”

    Whether intentional or not, restorative justice processes can put the offender and the victim on equal levels of legitimacy. In the case of sexual assault, this makes little to no sense. As advocates in this area, the members of CAT and the North Coast Rape Crisis Center know that these actions predominantly come from an abuse of power or a complete apathy towards the victim, not due to innocent miscommunication.

    “I feel like this presentation weighed a bit too heavily on the perpetrator and their choices,” a coordinator said. “It just wasn’t all that comfortable for me to hear, it’s like ‘if they get this little bit of accountability, then they’ll never do it again’ when we know that that’s not true.”

    The event ended four hours earlier than its intended conclusion, in part due to the extremely low turnout. It is unknown if CAT and the North Coast Rape Crisis Center will continue to use Rachel King as a resource for sexual assault trainings, especially in light of the negative reaction towards her presentation.

    Both teams stand firm in their mission to empower survivors on campus, whether they wish to take a restorative justice approach or a traditionally retributive one. Their concern lies solely with the victims and their personal well being.

    The Campus Advocate Team runs a 24 hour anonymous support line for any and all student victims of sexual assault that can be reached at (707) 445-5881.

  • Painting it teal for sexual assault awareness

    Painting it teal for sexual assault awareness

    by Matthew Taylor

    Pamphlets and papers flew around the UC Quad. Three teal blue tables stood to the right of The Depot entrance, pushed up close to the SAC’s concrete stairs. Dozens of paint bottles cluttered the leftmost table while various pins cluttered the right. April is international recognized as Sexual Assault Awareness month and The North Coast Rape Crisis Team alongside its on campus program Campus Advocate Team (CAT) have worked together to host its annual Take Back the Night week. The week-long event lasts from April 4 to April 7 and includes activities such as Denim Day, Clothesline Project Workshop, and Take Back the Night.

    Photo by Matthew Taylor | Liliana Cortez (center) speaking with students on the UC Quad about Teal Day on April 4.

    Tuesday marked Teal Day, a day dedicated to the awareness of sexual assault survivors and their stories. Students at the tabling event were encouraged to paint their expressions of positive growth and healing. By the end, all the small canvases would be placed together to form a larger mural. Liliana Cortez, the Violence Prevention Advocate at the Women’s Resource Center, expressed that the mural was an optional part of the activity.

    “It’s up to them,” Cortez said. “If they want to create their piece and keep it, or if they want to go ahead and give it to us so we can make it part of [the mural].”

    Together with Cortez, CAT Education Coordinator Kira Morse was also present at the table.

    “We provide services here on campus for survivors of sexual assault,” Morse said. “We have counseling, we have an office here, and we also respond out if there’s any incidents or things like that and help with [things] like Title IX and accommodations.”

    Rachel Mack, a Rangeland Resource Management major, was one of the handful of students painting at the table.

    Photo by Matthew Taylor | Painting by Rachel Mack created during the Teal Day event at the UC Quad on April 5.

    “It’s nice to have something positive as well as it being important for what it stands for,” Mack said, whilst painting her sunflower piece. “I think [it’s] really important for survivors to be able to have control over their own situation.”

    Alexa Farias, a Critical Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies major, expressed this event is very important to her work and role within Students for Violence Prevention.

    “We actually want to be part of the whole Speak Out, because it’s a really good way to show people what it feels like to really look through the situations,” Farias said.

    Speak Out is one of the many sub-events planned within Friday’s Take Back the Night program. This event will provide a safe space with counselors on hand for survivors to ‘speak out’ about their experiences and tell their stories.

    “The main movement and push with Take Back the Night is that people can feel safe here on campus and have their voices heard,” Morse said. “I feel a lot of times that survivors feel like they’re hush hushed. There’s not that open space where people can name their experiences. Take Back the Night, there is a lot of this amazing support where people feel comfortable.”

    Friday’s event will begin with a speech by Dr. Rachel King that will culminate into a rally and the aforementioned Speak Out event. Lasting between 6 to 10 pm, the event will end in a vigil dedicated to the victims of sexual violence.

    “I feel like [this] is really good,” said psychology major John Clark. “If this could happen at most events, then people would start to see that this is a [common] thing that we should talk about.”