On Nov. 12, The State News ran an article about two sexual assaults in East Lansing (“Police look into assaults”), in which East Lansing police Capt. Juli Liebler said the assaults were preventable.

All rapes are preventable, yet rape continues to be one of the most common and least reported violent crimes.

Perhaps one reason is that nearly all prevention efforts focus on women. This makes little sense to me, since most single-victim rapes are committed by men.

Men and women both need to be involved to end rape.

An important step in preventing rape is education. The sexual assault counseling program at The Listening Ear offers rape-awareness programs for dorms, fraternities, sororities and other community groups. I would encourage anyone who is interested to call The Listening Ear at (517)337-1717 to learn more.

The worst thing we can do is turn our backs.

Jim Hines
1996 MSU graduate