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Mark Dor6, Editor in Chief
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TITLE IX CONTINUED
Meg Penrose, professor at the Texas
A&M School of Law, has a specialty in
Title IX procedure. She stressed that Ti
tle IX, established as part of the United
States Education Amendments of 1972,
protects all genders and covers students,
staff and faculty.
“Tide IX requires any school re
ceiving federal funding makes sure that
someone’s gender not be a basis for their
inability to access educational opportu
nities,” Penrose said.
In 2014, President Barack Obama’s
administration created a task force to
monitor Title IX compliance. Penrose
said A&M and other universities have
taken the advice seriously.
“They take them very seriously, and
her committee, along with others like
the Women’s Resource Center and Stu
dent Conduct Office, hold lectures and
distribute information about resources
available to survivors and those who seek
to help survivors.
Penrose said these programs don’t
just communicate information, but also
bring an enhanced sense of awareness on
college campuses.
“When we have open dialogue and
discussion about certain items that ex
ist, it brings a heightened level of aware
ness,” Penrose said. “It’s not just institu
tionally speaking that schools say, ‘We
support this program and that’s what the
law requires,’ but also to remind students
that if you find yourself in a vulnerable
position, either the school has programs
to aid you or they’re providing training.”
Another component of Title IX in-
“We let them make that decision,”
Winkler said. “But even things that I’ve
heard when survivors come to me and
are trying to decide if they’re going to
report, it’s this thing of, ‘I’m going to
have to talk about it to strangers.’ ... I
don’t ask for details. If a student wants to
share that with me, I’m here to listen. If
they don’t want to, that is okay.”
While Harrell said students may view
an adult talking about consent and pre
vention as a “talking head” at times, she
said the university is working on pro
grams that encourage more peer-to-peer
interaction.
“Peer-on-peer communication is re
ceived much better by students,” Harrell
said. “They feel safer speaking to other
students. They’re more familiar with the
language of the generation and the cul
tured context.”
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“In a college setting, for example, it’s very
seldom, if ever, the person with a ski mask who
jumps from behind a hedge. ”
we know that sexual harassment in
schools is far too common,” Penrose
said. “There are some statistics that eight
in 10 students say they experience some
form of sexual harassment, and that’s not
necessarily college and it’s not just girls.”
Kristen Harrell, associate director in
the office of the Dean of Student Life
and chair of the Sexual Assault Survival
Services Committee, said the mission of
the organization is to provide education
for students and consult with them on
issues involving sexual violence.
Harrell said compliance with Title
IX is very broad. Ranging from train
ing and education for students to inci
dent response, A&M works to increase
awareness of sexual violence issues.
Harrell said effective education can be
a challenge. Students may not take the
discussions to heart, and those who have
been victims of sexual harassment or vio
lence do not report to the university.
On the education tract, Harrell said
volves investigating reported acts of sex
ual harassment or violence. While each
case is handled by the Student Conduct
Office if it involves students, Harrell said
staff and faculty across campus are edu
cated to work with students.
With more people educated on han
dling cases, Carol Binzer, director of
Administrative and Support Services for
the Department of Residence Life, said
issues can be addressed more efficiently.
An example she gave included a student
going to the Women’s Clinic for sup
port, but who still had other concerns
or issues. If the student needed to be
moved into different housing, for ex
ample, a practitioner at the Women’s
Clinic would know a contact within
Residential Life.
Angela Winkler, assistant director of
Student Assistance Services, said students
do not have to file a formal complaint
with the conduct office to receive the
care and resource information they need.
Harrell said an ultimate goal is to give
students and staff the feeling of empow
erment to say something and bring up
issues for discussion. A&M, she said, has
values that encourage this type of discus
sion, creating a culture of respect.
Sexual violence does still exist on
campus, and Harrell said some traditions
may be inhibitors to effective education.
“There are road bumps,” Harrell said.
“Mugging down at yell practice can be
fine as mutual consent, but there is social
pressure to act in tradition.”
Penrose said one misconception about
Title IX is that it only applies to students
and specifically to females, but nothing
in the act that states female. Any gender
is protected under the law.
“The good thing about Title IX is that
it’s motivation is that no one’s gender,
male or female, should prevent or pre
clude them from gaining access to edu
cational programs,” Penrose said.
THE TEXAS A&M STUDENT MEDIA BOARD
INVITES APPLICATIONS FOR
Editor
Aggieland 2016
Qualifications for editor-in-chief of the Aggieland
yearbook are:
REQUIRED
Be a Texas A&M student in good standing with the University
and enrolled in %t least six credit hours (4 if a graduate student)
during the term bToffice (unless fewer credits are required to
graduate);
Have at least a 2.25 cumulative grade point ratio (3.25 if a
graduate student) and at least a 2.25 grade point ratio (3.25 if
a graduate student) in the semester immediately prior to the
appointment, the semester of appointment and semester during
the term of office. In order for this provision to be met, at least
six hours (4 if a graduate student) must have been taken for
that semester;
PREFERRED
• Have completed JOUR 301 or COMM 307 (Mass Communication,
Law, and Society);
• Have demonstrated ability in writing, editing and graphic design
through university coursework or equivalent experience;
• Have at least one year experience in a responsible position on
the Aggieland or comparable college yearbook.
Application forms should be picked up and returned to
Sandi Jones, Student Media business coordinator, in Suite
L406 of the MSC. Deadline for submitting application:
5 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, 2015.
A letter to the sexual assault task force
Change
involves
more than
just another
awareness
campaign
Sam King
@Sam_King372
I t’s uncomfortable to acknowledge that
I sexual assault is a national problem — and
I perhaps even more so to admit that it is
I caused by Aggies on campus. But for all
the uneasiness, it’s nothing compared to the
consequences of ignoring it.
The Challenge
According to the Division of Student Affairs,
there have been 32 cases of reported sexual
assault, including rape and sexual abuse, since
the summer of 2012. The key word here is
“reported.” According to the Rape, Abuse and
Incest National Network, the nation’s largest
anti-sexual assault organization, “just over half
of rape victims do not report the crime.”
To A&M’s newly established sexual assault
task force, you have a difficult job ahead of
you. It’s not enough anymore to just say, “This
is a problem.” If you, the task force, want your
campaign to be successful, you need to make
sure you are tackling the issue with decorum
and sensitivity while ensuring the correct in-
and women how to not get attacked, though.
It doesn’t mean sending the message that it’s
up to people to hinder their chances of being
assaulted. It does mean teaching people how to
handle themselves if they are ever faced with
the reality of an assault.
Interference
Interference is the next component of the
ideal campaign. Many national campaigns
feature messages like, “If you see something,
say something.” This is a great catch phrase,
but you need to look at defining what both
of those “somethings” mean. What should
people at a party look for in a potentially dan
gerous setting? What kind of interactions could
become harmful? Along with recognizing the
signs of sexual assault and harassment, students
need to know how to step in.
Your campaign should show how to stand
up and protect our fellow Aggies, even when
they may not be capable of protecting them
selves. The Aggie Honor Code applies outside
the classroom and can easily be expanded to
apply to this campaign. An Aggie does not lie,
cheat, steal (or harm another person) or toler
ate those who do.
As you might expect, the people evaluate a new investigational
involved in developing new medication at PPD. So when
medicines wear lots of different you volunteer to help create new
hats. What you might not expect medications at PPD, everybody wins.
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X
formation is communicated.
In order for the campaign to be successful,
you should tackle four issues: awareness, pre
vention, interference and reaction.
Awareness
Awareness has been a huge focus of many
national campaigns. Obama’s “It’s On Us”
campaign was huge in raising national aware
ness. Awareness includes defining sexual as
sault.
Part of the reason so many sexual assault
cases go unreported is that the victim may be
unaware that their experience is even consid
ered sexual assault. Clear definitions — and
the simple understanding that sexual assault is
a problem at A&M — should be cornerstones
of your campaign.
Prevention
Prevention is a topic you need to handle
sensitively. You cannot approach it from the
perspective of teaching people of all genders
how to “not get raped.” Rather, you need to
view it from the angle of programs like Sexual
Harassment and Rape Prevention, SHARP, a
self-defense course hosted by the University
Police Department (even though that class is
specifically for women).
“Prevention,” doesn’t mean teaching men
Reaction
Last but not least is reaction. This goes back
to the lack of sexual assault cases that are re
ported. Many students are unaware of the steps
that should be taken following an attack.
You need to make information easily avail
able if something should happen. This is per
haps the least comfortable part to discuss, be
cause to talk about it means to accept that it
happened.
Even beyond reporting the crime to the
UPD, there are resources available to victims,
including counseling. Sexual assault trials, es
pecially those found on college campuses, have
garnered a reputation of being incredibly try
ing and often fruitless. Your campaign needs
to reassure students that if something happens
to them, proper steps will be taken to ensure
that A&M will do everything it can to support
the victims. And that needs to be a truthful
statement.
I think that a public message and campaign
is incredibly important. But it can’t stop there.
If the Division of Student Affairs doesn’t fol
low the message it is trying to send and follows
in the unfortunate footsteps of universities like
those we’ve heard in the news, then the efforts
of your task force won’t mean anything.
Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, grad students
2 MORE DAYS
to have your picture taken ^
for Texas A&M's 2015
Aggieland yearbook,
if you didn't last fall. Your
portrait sitting is free. 4
jf|K
ij,:
|—
Just walk in 9 a.m.-5 p.m. today through Thursday in the Student Media office.
Suite L400 of the MSC. March 12 will be your last chance.
It's your yearbook. Be in it.