Spring Break
No significant changes made to sexual assault prevention
Static programs despite attacks last year
Allison Lex
Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: News
UConn students who remember the highly publicized sexual assault incident of Spring Weekend 2008 may be surprised to learn that there will be no significant changes made to sexual assault prevention and awareness programs for Spring Weekend 2009.
Aside from their annual Take Back the Night event, the Women's Center has no plans to take any additional action in sexual assault prevention this weekend, according to Violence Against Women Prevention Program (VAWPP) teaching assistant Alison Berk.
"In all honesty, the Women's Center isn't really doing anything different," said Berk.
Berk said the Women's Center "tries to prevent sexual assault all year long, not just during Spring Weekend" because it's a constant problem that is not specific to this particular weekend.
The Women's Center concentrates its efforts on using education to prevent sexual assault, specifically VAWPP. VAWPP is an education and advocacy-based program dedicated to preventing sexual violence, according to the Center's Web page.
Many students have expressed a desire to see a more active response from university organizations this weekend in terms of sexual assault prevention. For the past two years, more than half of all Spring Weekend arrests have not been UConn students, according to Daily Campus archives. Given the additional threat posed by Spring Weekend visitors, students believe the typical education and advocacy methods are not sufficient.
"[The Women's Center] not doing anything because it's a year-round problem concerns me," said Chris Mattera, a 4th-semester political science major. "Why wouldn't they increase services to women that might be at risk? … Now's the time that action is most necessary [because] an increase in volume and the amount of people increases the likelihood of an attack."
"I definitely think that there is a much greater risk of assault during Spring Weekend," said Akanksha Bajaj, a 4th-semester political science and accounting double major. "While I understand that [the Women's Center] deals with this all year round, this is when it is most important since this is when assault is most prevalent. I also think that it's not solely their responsibility; other organizations should definitely get involved as well."
Aside from their annual Take Back the Night event, the Women's Center has no plans to take any additional action in sexual assault prevention this weekend, according to Violence Against Women Prevention Program (VAWPP) teaching assistant Alison Berk.
"In all honesty, the Women's Center isn't really doing anything different," said Berk.
Berk said the Women's Center "tries to prevent sexual assault all year long, not just during Spring Weekend" because it's a constant problem that is not specific to this particular weekend.
The Women's Center concentrates its efforts on using education to prevent sexual assault, specifically VAWPP. VAWPP is an education and advocacy-based program dedicated to preventing sexual violence, according to the Center's Web page.
Many students have expressed a desire to see a more active response from university organizations this weekend in terms of sexual assault prevention. For the past two years, more than half of all Spring Weekend arrests have not been UConn students, according to Daily Campus archives. Given the additional threat posed by Spring Weekend visitors, students believe the typical education and advocacy methods are not sufficient.
"[The Women's Center] not doing anything because it's a year-round problem concerns me," said Chris Mattera, a 4th-semester political science major. "Why wouldn't they increase services to women that might be at risk? … Now's the time that action is most necessary [because] an increase in volume and the amount of people increases the likelihood of an attack."
"I definitely think that there is a much greater risk of assault during Spring Weekend," said Akanksha Bajaj, a 4th-semester political science and accounting double major. "While I understand that [the Women's Center] deals with this all year round, this is when it is most important since this is when assault is most prevalent. I also think that it's not solely their responsibility; other organizations should definitely get involved as well."
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Mike
posted 4/24/09 @ 11:43 AM EST
As a man, I would like to say that I think this article really glosses over the fact that the women's center works really hard all the time. They can't work harder beacause they already work hard. (Continued…)
TPhill
posted 4/24/09 @ 11:05 PM EST
Maybe the best thing anyone could do to protect women (and possibly some men) from sexual assault is limit the flow of the #1 drug associated with date rape and assault. (Continued…)
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