The Women’s Resource Center announced that they are seeking applications for a new assistant position to organize the center’s sexual violence prevention programs.
The position is open to graduate students with a background in violence prevention education programs. The application deadline is Feb. 24.
Women’s Resource Center Director Jessica Nare said the center created the position to deliver sexual violence prevention programs to students.
“We also have just regular programming throughout the year,” Nare said. “The Sexual Violence Task Force usually puts on at least one program every month, and so the graduate assistant will help support that and participate in those meetings.”
The graduate assistant will also help plan programming for the fall.
Communication senior Abby Deleon works at the Women’s Resource Center as a feminist peer educator.
“I started as an intern in the fall, and started working here officially this semester,” Deleon said. “I love working here.”
According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, more than 50 percent of college sexual assaults occur in August, September, October or November.
“We do some things around the red zone, which is the first few weeks of the fall semester where there tend to be more reports of sexual violence,” Nare said.
The ‘red zone’ phenomenon is seen across the nation, she said.
“We try to do increased programming to support people and provide education during that time,” Nare said.
Nare said that campuses nationwide are becoming more aware of the importance of protecting victims of sexual assault and providing violence prevention education.
“I think we’re kind of at an exciting moment where campuses are really getting serious about changing the culture and addressing sexual violence,” she said. “But that takes a long time, to change culture and really create a shift in the way we think about relationships and sexual relationships.”
Nare said she thinks SDSU is in the same situation as most institutions across the U.S. in terms of changing campus culture.
“I think actually that SDSU is doing a good job, and I think that we’re making progress and we’re seeing a difference,” she said.
SDSU students report fewer experiences of sexual assault than the national figure.
According to a survey conducted by SDSU released last year, only six percent of SDSU students reported having experienced sexual assault since being on campus.
This is compared to the national figure of 11.2 percent, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.
However, the number is much larger for students who live in university housing: 23 percent of students living in university housing reported having experienced sexual assault.
Nare said she is concerned about the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as the Department of Education Secretary, DeVosh donated to an organization that challenges Title IX rights.
“I think that it’s really important that we as a nation take sexual violence really seriously, and I worry that some of the political rhetoric that’s been taking place has offered a different message, and I think that’s really concerning,” Nare said.
The Women’s Resource Center has been open since January 2016. Previously, other organizations and departments around campus provided sexual violence support and education to students.
Nare said the center was created in response to student requests for a dedicated space for women.
“Students were asking for that and then the university decided to invest in that and support that,” she said.
