In co ordination with Sexual Assault Crisis Intervention and IM-Sports, the James Madison Student Senate hosted a sexual assault prevention class in Club Spartan.
Political science sophomore and member of the intervention team David Zettle said the resources shared at the event are meant to empower people who feel like they are at risk of being assaulted.
“You don’t want to feel that there’s nothing you can do,” Zettle said.
Psychology sophomore and member of the intervention team Taylor Dontje said learning self-defense techniques may help prevent some sexual assaults but not all.
“The more likely you are to fight back, the more likely somebody is to stop,” Dontje said. “The biggest thing we learned is that the only way to prevent sexual assault is to not sexually assault others.”
Stu dents who attended learned how to assess their environment and utilize their confrontational skills.
The program covered definitions of rape, red flags indicating a possible sexual assault perpetrator and ways to stop an assault before it happens, among others.
Sexual assaults are prevalent on all U.S. university campuses. Dontje said one in four women are sexually assaulted on campuses nationwide, as well as with one in seven men.
Before showing self-defense techniques, dietetics senior Darlene Hogan dispelled myths about sexual assaults.
Hogan said more than 70 percent of sexual assaults occur between acquaintances rather than a stranger.
Hogan also said rape can occur between two people regardless how much alcohol was drank and regardless of their relationship status.
Chinese and comparative cultures and politics sophomore Roma Cusumano recently took the on-campus housing survey and one of the questions struck her.
“I got to the question about how safe I felt on campus,” Cusumano said. “I thought about how terrified I’ve been walking back from the library.”
She said a friend mentioned the class and she knew it would negate some o f those fearful feelings.
“I thought this would be a great way to take action and learn what to do in a situation that puts me in harm’s way,” Cusumano said. “You can only talk so much about something.”
