San Diego State FratMANners and SISSTER program hosted its Spike Balls Not Drinks event Thursday night on campus where students were able to learn about consent, sexual violence prevention and awareness.
According to health educator and facilitator of the FratMANners and SISSTER active-course Melanie Amacker the FratMANners and SISSTER program created this event to raise and spread awareness on sexual violence prevention as well as to promote resources that are available on and off campus for students. This event creates a culture around the idea of going out and having fun without being in a “party environment” that’s surrounded with alcohol. The event was successful in amassing over 350 student attendees, which is its largest turnout to date.
FratMANners and SISSTER are peer health education programs that train fraternity men and sorority women on topics surrounding sexual violence and its prevention. The program’s main goal is to raise awareness and open a dialogue on campus to shape the type of culture that is expected of students at SDSU.
Amacker clarifies why they created this event and what it hopes to accomplish.
“The main goal is to get an activity out for students to not drink and to come do something fun while raising awareness about the topic,” Amacker said. “I think a lot of people, when they first get to campus, don’t know these resources exist. So, we want to tell people, ‘Hey, we are here if you ever need services or assistance or things like that.’”
The event was created around the concept of spikeball – a game similar to volleyball, but with a twist. Students signed-up in teams and played against their peers in spikeball matches. Bag-toss games were also available for participants to win prizes, as were informational booths.
The informational booths had activities and materials covering topics concerning issues centered around consent and sexual violence. The booths were directed by fellow students who have already taken and passed FratMANners and SISSTER courses on campus. This allowed students to learn from one another.
Computer science junior Andrew Barrott said the booths included various materials and interactive activities. These activities provided students with information on bystander intervention, giving and receiving consent and the FratMANners’ and SISSTER’s social media.
His section of the booth worked to teach students about the concept of consent in particular – what consent is and is not. They had laminated slips with different examples of situational phrases a student may encounter. Students had to read them aloud to determine if consent was established.
“For example, ‘Are you down to have oral sex?’ does establish consent,” Barrott said. “It’s very specific, it’s explicit and it happens before the act.”
Kinesiology junior Blanca Agustin attended the event in support of the SISSTER program. She talked about the event’s impact on campus and its bigger picture.
“I do think having an event like this is beneficial to have on campus. This event helps to start the conversation,” Agustin said. “SDSU I know does have the reputation of being a party school, so I feel like it is very important that it’s not just left at that, and that there is very much an active movement here to educate people on a bunch of different topics.”
Callista Hansen is a junior studying journalism.
