Outreach event at Southeast showcases rape prevention

The Campus Violence Prevention Program at Southeast Missouri State University held an outreach Thursday outside Kent Library to mark Rape Abuse and Incest National Network Day.

Decorated umbrellas were set up on and near tables that also featured information on the Campus Violence Prevention Program and related subjects.

Coordinator Brittany Talley said the Campus Violence Prevention Program is part of the university's Responsible Redhawk campaign, an awareness program focused on prevention and risk-reducing behaviors among students and the importance of bystander intervention.

A promotional card says, "Off the field, our football team stays out of the red zone," the area between the 20-yard line and the goal line. In sexual violence prevention, the red zone refers to the first six weeks of fall semester, when students are more likely to experience a sexual assault.

Southeast football and the Campus Violence Prevention Program have teamed to prevent sexual violence by promoting effective consent and bystander intervention when it might be necessary to intercede.

Effective consent means both parties are in agreement, of appropriate age, agreeing of their freewill and have the capacity to agree; they are sober, conscious and understand what's being asked of them, Talley said.

Bystander intervention is Southeast's Step Up program in which students help others who, for example, might have had too much to drink or may not be able to take care of themselves, according to a pamphlet from the organization.

Those stopping by the tables could take a short quiz on effective consent. They filled those in and supplied their email addresses, and if they got all the answers right, they would be entered into a drawing for a shoe-string backpack, including a water bottle and T-shirt, Talley said.