CSB/SJU isn’t doing enough to stop rape culture
This is the opinion of Kate Fenske, CSB senior
When I first accepted my admittance to CSB during the spring of my senior year of high school, one of the first emails I received was explaining how every incoming first-year was required to take two online classes, one focusing on alcohol use and the other focusing on sexual assault. The only other instances I remember sexual assault education being brought up were at my first-year orientation and during a short but mandatory lecture for all first-year Bennies at the start of my first year.
Not only are these programs that CSB/SJU has in place not taken seriously by most students but research also shows they’re likely not effective. Short, one-time lectures typically focus on basic advice such as watching your drink and always walking with a friend. While not bad advice, lectures like these miss the mark and could be drastically more effective if they were reworked.
In-depth, multi-session bystander training that involve student athletes, club leaders, faculty, staff and other leaders on campus have dramatically higher success rates at lowering sexual assault and rape occurrences on college campuses. Unfortunately, CSB/SJU and most other colleges haven’t taken the time to invest in these programs.
As a member of the CSB Student Senate last year, I had the opportunity to hear from the organization Men as Peacemakers when they came to present to us. They hoped to work with administration, CSB and SJU Senate, sports teams and other groups on campus to create an educational program to improve upon our current system. We funded their efforts, and as a survivor of sexual assault, I was excited and hopeful that this group was going to make a real change on an issue that our administration didn’t seem to care much about.
Maybe I was naive to believe that change was really going to come about, but as of now, I haven’t heard of any progress. Men as Peacemakers hosted a few bystander training sessions during the last academic year but with very low attendance. If I hadn’t been at the Senate meeting, I would have never known they were even happening. A simple search on the CSB/SJU website shows that the school has never advertised these sessions and hasn’t made them easily accessible to students.
To my knowledge, the only way CSB/SJU attempts messaging focused on dismantling rape culture is through CERTS (consent, equality, respect, talking, safety). To be frank, I don’t believe CERTS’ work is effective. While putting up posters and creating social media campaigns is never a bad idea, it isn’t enough to create lasting change.
When you start paying attention, you might notice there are far more CERTS posters in Bennie dorms than in Johnnie dorms and there are very few focusing on how you shouldn’t rape somebody. Instead, most focus on preventative methods that suggest sexual assault can’t be prevented and you need to protect yourself.
Based on a survey done in 2020 by CSB/SJU Counseling and Health Promotion, 40% of Bennies and 13% of Johnnies have experienced unwanted sexual contact at some point in their life. If CSB/SJU truly wanted to live out the Benedictine values of Respect for Persons, Common Good and Justice, they would actively invest in programs and education to lower these statistics and support students instead of sticking to ineffective status quo practices.