New safety committee presents event

On Wednesday, Oct. 28, Creating Safer Campuses at CSB+SJU: Response, Prevention and Shared Responsibility, an event put on by Make It Known, was held in Gorecki to connect with students and discuss improving the overall safety on campus. It was an informational event with a Q&A at the end meant to increase comfort in reporting concerns, discussing ideas and techniques to make campus safer and inform students about what resources are available to help.

The Make it Known program existed at CSB+SJU before, but the newly established Student Safety Committee is updating it to make it more effective. The committee was formed last spring with the help of Mary Geller, the associate provost for student success at St. Ben’s, who helped emphasize giving the students a stronger voice about their safety. The committee was made to incorporate the views of students living on campus. To do this, the committee has recruited representatives from both the St. Ben’s and St. John’s Senates, the Institute for Women’s Leadership, the Johnnie Development Institute and from Residential Life on both campuses.

Marin Kaster, an RA and CSB senior on the safety committee, wants students to be aware of thecommittee and its purpose.

“We’re here to be a voice for them and be the bridge between what they need and how we can bring it to them, and how we can execute that in a very constructive way,” Kaster said.

The committee and Make It Known’s event were meant to emphasize the connection between the student body and campus administration. The committee’s goal is to revamp the Make It Known campaign to encourage better response, prevention and shared responsibility.

Emily Hernandez-Zapata, a CSB senator and sophomore on the Student Safety Committee believes that by hosting events the program can be more impactful.

“This is specifically for the students… We want to make sure that students are able to join these programs and these events because that’s where we get the most information, that’s how we move forward,” Hernandez-Zapata said.

The event hosted several different speakers to discuss policy and what can be done to help. Geller introduced the event and the speakers, explaining their topics of discussion for the event. Psychology professor Majel Baker briefly discussed the implications of recent events on higher education and how students can influence change.

“All of us, everybody in this room, we need to take daily steps to actually unlearn some of our expectations about what sex is supposed to look like. Let’s rewrite the script,” Baker said.

Jody Terhaar, the dean of students and Title IX coordinator for St. Ben’s, and JoNes VanHecke, the dean of students and Title IX coordinator for St. John’s, both spoke about reporting procedures and students’ rights and responsibilities. They mentioned that CSB+SJU’s policies are dictated by federal and state law, but that they work closely with a nationally recognized third- party organization to help schools stay current and incorporate the very best practices into their policies. They also discussed their emphasis on giving control and the ability to choose back to students who are victims of assault, and highlighted the resources that are available depending on what students need.

Kari-Shane Davis Zimmerman, a theology professor at St. Ben’s and St. John’s, continued by reiterating some points she previously discussed during this year’s Basecamp for freshmen about building a culture of responsibility, accountability, bystander prevention and support. She specifically talked about the acronym H.O.M.E., which stood for Harm no one, Own your actions, be Mindful and Everybody matters.

“At Basecamp, what I was asked to do was to remind our students that we are in a new home when we come to these two places, and to protect these two places,” Zimmerman said.

Four members of CERTS also spoke for a brief time about prevention and bystander intervention, noting the four D’s that can be used to help diffuse a situation: delegate, distract, direct action and delay.

The event ended with a Q&A opportunity for students to ask questions or voice their concerns. Several thoughts were shared about what students would like to see to make both campuses safer. Russell Klein, chief facilities and resilience officer, answered several security questions. He also mentioned safety walks happening next week, in which any student can get involved, where students and faculty walk across campus after dark to build an understanding of what it may feel like to be a student alone at night.

Molly Rooks, a CSB senior and psychology student who attended felt the event was especially relevant due to recent assault problems on campus.

“I think it was really important with everything going on… I think it’s good to just raise awareness to what you can do, like the four D’s,” Rooks said.