University of Arkansas Fayetteville - Razorback Yearbook (Fayetteville, AR)

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HAVEN 33

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STOPTHESILENCE STORY: CHRISTINA WILKERSON PHOTO: JAMIE STRICKLIN DESIGN: ERIN NELSON Sexual assault cases have always been handled with delicate fingers and awkward chasses, but when nationwide awareness began to define the amorphous concept, the UA planted its feet and addressed the most underreported crime on campus. A peculiar email popped up in student ' s inboxes early September from Title IX Coordinator Shannon Haupt to remind students of the university ' s commitment to create a safe and inclusive environment. The email promoted an optional one- hour, online course called Haven: Understanding Sexual Assault. The university is part of the nationwide discussion and encourages all community members to take reasonable and prudent actions to prevent or stop an act of harassment or violence, Haupt said in the campus wide email notification. The nationwide discussion began to pick up momentum when the term affirmative consent made headlines September 28 with the revolutionary Californian law, Senate Bill 967. ' Affirmative consent ' means affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity. It is the responsibility of each person involved in the sexual activity to ensure that he or she has the affirmative consent of the other or others to engage in the sexual activity. Lack of protest or resistance does not mean consent, nor does silence mean consent, the Senate Bill 967 said. The new law changed the previous No Means No slogan to Yes Means Yes, began to re-write society ' s perception of sexual assault and challenged many other universities to change their policies. For some, these developments shone light on a shadowy issue, but for Mary Wyandt-Hiebert they were a welcome addition to her efforts to raise awareness. Hiebert, the STAR Central director worked to advocate for sexual assault victims on campus. She worked with RESPECT-Rape Education Services by Peers Engaged in Conscious Thought- to launch the Meme Project and That ' s So 6 Percent campaigns. Haven is another program that will bring more attention to the issue, Wyandt-Hiebert said. It ' s one more way of reaching out to our students and delivering the message about, this is what sexual assault is, bystander intervention is important, and here are some tips on how to intervene and ways to intervene, here ' s why it ' s necessary to intervene, and pointing out the provenance and the need to change the way address sexual assault issues that surround us on an everyday basis. 32 Fall

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