New campaign at the college seeks to raise sexual assault awareness
By David Hurtado
The college’s Student Services and Success department launched a new initiative in January to raise awareness for sexual violence and promote the importance of staying safe in a relationship.
The KNOW initiative seeks to educate and inform students about saying ‘no’ to a potentially harmful situation and give them the proper vocabulary to communicate with their partners. The initiative, which will run throughout the year, will feature posters in restrooms and classrooms with tear-off cards detailing different resources available to students.
Paul Kyle, Dean of Student Services and Success and Title IX coordinator, said the initiative was launched in part by the SaVE Act and the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which was reauthorized by Congress in 2013. The legislation calls for higher education institutions to provide information regarding bullying, rape and relationship violence as well as taking measures to prevent it.
“A couple of things led to that, “Kyle said. “Primarily, [it] was legislation that was clarified over two years ago in Title IX. That launched a series of improvements that schools should do as far as their policies, procedures, programming and education relating to sexual assault, domestic violence and relationship violence.”
According to Title IX, which is a portion of the Education Amendments of 1972, sexual harassment in education includes verbal, visual or physical sexual behavior which significantly interferes with a student’s access to educational opportunities.
Kyle said the college has been steadily implementing changes over the past two years, adding that March is the deadline for making sure all procedures and policies are in place. He said most of the implementations are already in place, making KNOW the final initiative cementing everything together.
Upcoming events sponsored by KNOW include ‘Think Before You Drink,’ ‘Safe Spring Break’ and ‘Clothesline Project & Denim Day.’ Posters can be found around campus detailing additional information and other events.
Pam Vassar, Associate Dean of Student Life and Deputy Title IX coordinator, said one of the most important things students can do to prevent sexual assault is taking action when they see something happening.
“We’re also doing an emphasis on bystander training,” Vassar said. “When you see something happening, you intervene; as opposed to watching it happen, not intervening and letting something worse occur.”
Dan Robles, crime prevention officer, Campus Police, said when a student files a sexual harassment claim, a report is immediately filed, followed by an investigation by an in-house detective. Depending on the circumstances of the report, counseling services, SAFEHOME or MOCSA can be made available to the student. Robles said all officers are trained to act as first responders for these types of instances and are required to have 40 hours of training a year for handling sexual assault.
“If we need the assistance of Overland Park [detectives], we can go ahead and call Overland Park,” Robles said. “We have an understanding and support from the Overland Park Police Department.”
Robles added sexual assault or harassment cases on campus are more infrequent than they are frequent. He said with the college being a two year university rather than a four year and that having a “nomadic population” who aren’t on campus all the time helps in that category. The most common crime on campus, according to Robles, is theft.
“The population might be a little bit different, than if you go to KU, K-State or MU; they have more of that college age grad,” he said. “We have a huge mix; you can be in a class with a 20-year-old and then there could be a 45-year-old right next to that student. We have a large age range and I think that has a lot to do with it.”
The most recent reports of sexual assault on campus included the “booty bandit” and a one-time incident two months ago near CLB. Robles said the CLB incident is still under investigation by a detective.
Contact David Hurtado, features editor, at dhurtado@ jccc.edu.