Senate funds health resources

From its inception at the beginning of this school year, the CSB Senate Sexual Misconduct Committee has been working to make positive change on campus. With the funding of their most recent initiative, its members have found another way to make a difference.

This past week, the CSB Senate provided $2400 toward an initiative introduced by the committee which enables CSB students to get treatment after a sexual assault for free. CSB Health Services previously offered this without cost, but the funding came out of their own budget.

“It certainly takes the pressure off of other areas in my budget now that that this money is coming from the CSB Senate,” Director of Health Services Emily Rath said. “Women are just so very appreciative when they come in and they don’t have to worry about the cost.”

Treatment following an assault includes testing for sexually transmitted diseases, which can cost up to $277, according to Rath. Insurance can cover these costs, but students often don’t want the expense to show up on their insurance bill.

“The reality is a lot of our students are on their parents’ insurance, and when the parent gets something called the explanation of benefits, it may state that I did STD treatment,” Rath said. “So, for STD testing, women like to do that not through their insurance.”

According to Sexual Misconduct Committee chair and CSB senior Abby Kaluza, the funding is enough for 20 students to take advantage of the free service if just the recommended tests are done.

Rath indicated that around 10 students come in for testing each year, although she said that number might be low because students aren’t aware that this is available to them.

This is something the committee realized as well, which is why they aim to promote this service and other services offered on campus. Students can call CSB Health Services at 320-363-5605.

“We don’t want to just fund something,” said Aretha McDonald, committee member and CSB senior. “We want people to actually use it.”

McDonald said that the committee is looking to make this funding a yearly contribution, which they aim to address when the Senate undergoes constitutional review at the end of the semester.

A variety of factors prompted the committee members to work toward this initiative, including the aftermath of the Pat Hall incident last fall, where reports surfaced of residents on the first and second floors of St. Patrick Hall engaging in a sex competition.

“In light of all of the sexual assault cases that were being reported, we decided that it would be good that students know that these resources are available here on campus,” said Andrenique Rolle, committee member and CSB junior.

Another initiative the committee discussed at the meeting focused on providing funding for a member of the CSB Health Services staff to become a certified sexual assault nurse examiner through a weeklong training with the Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center.

This training would enable the nurse to perform rape kits, a forensic examination done in the hours or days after a sexual assault.

Kaluza also hoped that this training would provide a “more mentally and emotionally aware” resource for someone to go to after an assault. Rath said she hopes that a nurse would do this training by fall 2022.

With both of these initiatives, committee members hope to make resources more accessible for students and to make students more aware of what is offered to them.

“Things like sexual health and reproductive health and talking about sexual assault are kind of taboo, and so we really, really, really wanted to do something that kind of destigmatizes that, or at least offers support for female-identifying students or Bennies,” Kaluza said.