Sexual violence prevention program begins

Throughout the investigation of the Pat Hall incident, the CSB/SJU students and staff have been discussing the most effective way to respond. According to CERTS student coordinator Addie Fischer, this has also raised the question of how campus culture allows sexual assault and how the community can prevent future occurrences.

This has drawn attention to the upcoming BEST Party Model training starting Nov. 11. Since the start of the year, Tamara Hennes-Vix, CSB/SJU leader of Project Embrace—a federal grant for violence prevention on college campuses—has been collaborating with CERTS and Men As Peacemakers to implement BEST at CSB/SJU.

According to Sean Elmquist, the coordinator of the training, BEST, which stands for “Be Equal Safe and Trustworthy,” provides a model for examining party culture’s connection to sexual assault on campuses.

“The numbers have not changed. The violence that exists on campuses is very consistent,” he said. “We still have these endemic levels of violence, and that is a major public health and human rights issue. Denying it causes harm.”

The model was developed by the Duluth-based nonprofit, Men As Peacemakers, originally imagined by the co-director and St. John’s alumnus, Ed Heisler. Elmquist said BEST recognizes the value of parties to campus communities, while maintaining that it needs to be a positive experience, safe for all. “[There is an] enormous amount of opportunity for positive things that build a positive, safe campus culture, while simultaneously there can be an enormous amount of risk,” Elmquist said. “We know that party environments can be flash points for that really high risk of sexual assault that exists on college campuses, specifically for women and non-male identified folks [who are] already at a high risk.”

Heisler’s experience with CSB/SJU student life creates a unique relationship between the training and local culture.

“This is where [Heisler] had his formative college party experiences. Those experiences are what the model came out of,” Elmquist said. “When you have a tight-knit community in a kind of cloistered environment, there’s an enormous potential for positive change.”

Alongside Elmquist and Fischer, the fall BEST session will be facilitated by Senate Vice President Abby Goff and Women’s Initiative Representative Aretha McDonald. All attendees register voluntarily, many of whom are student leaders who were encouraged to do so.

SJU senator and RA Evan Mattson said he sees attending the training as an opportunity, but also his duty as a student leader.

According to Fischer, they hope to gather students who are already passionate about the issue to eventually train as facilitators to offer the program more broadly.

She said leading this project is personal for her.

“Sexual violence can happen to people of all genders, but specifically, [many] women in my life have been negatively affected by sexual violence, so this seemed like a way for me to channel some of my passion in a proactive and influential way,” Fischer said.

Elmquist said that connecting with people who show a passion for ending sexual violence then creating educational environments which equip them to sustainably reshape campus culture is the most important part of the work for him.

“There are always going to be people who are carriers of big empathy… What I try to do is connect with those people and try to create places where we can take care of each other and… put it to good use,” he said.

According to Elmquist, Men as Peacemakers was born from a collaboration of men in Duluth after a series of high-profile domestic murders all committed by men in the 1990s.

They realized that community responses were primarily female-led, inspiring their mission of men holding other men accountable.

Mattson applies this mission to the role of modern male leaders.

“We have got to provide justice for those involved in the situation,” Mattson said. “Johnnies need to hold each other accountable… The BEST training will help encourage and [teach] ways we can hold other Johnnies [and] other men accountable.”

According to Fischer, the solution to sexual violence requires people of all genders’ commitment.

“Its effects are devastatingly negative in some circumstances, but a lot of people think it’s not their problem… Maybe bringing this topic into discussions amongst peers will make people realize that it is,” she said.

The facilitators said the primary goal of the training is to create lasting change which addresses an issue that has persisted through generations of college students.

“One of the main purposes…is to construct a new normal that centers campus equity and safety. We’re really trying to shift that culture to a normal… where when we say we don’t tolerate sexual misconduct… [we] back it up with action,” Hennes-Vix said.

Hennes-Vix, Fischer and Mattson said they envision a campus culture intolerant of violence, instead prioritizing healthy relationships.

“[Gradually] there’s been an increase in thoughtfulness that I’ve seen… people are being more considerate [and] making sure that people are in physically safe and emotionally safe situations,” Fischer said.