LTE: Student advocacy will always be necessary
Apr 3, 2017
As you are aware, an opinion article was written last week regarding issues surrounding sexual assault and misperceptions related to it. As brothers of Sigma Phi Epsilon we are writing to explain the importance of sexual assault awareness campaigns.
We want to make something abundantly clear–the victim is never to blame. It doesn’t matter what a person wears or what they choose to consume; sexual assault is never acceptable. Blaming someone for being drunk will never justify such a horrible thing happening to another human being.
We’ve had friends come to us, asking us for help because they were sexually assaulted and had no idea know what to do. They were fearful, shocked this would ever happen to them. No matter what data you look at, there exists an immense amount of victims who never report because they are so emotionally scarred or just want to move on, forgetting it ever happened. Saying at a certain number of occurrences sexual assault is only “a serious problem [and] not a crisis” makes us irate. One is too many, and a statistic doesn’t calculate the burden victims must unwillingly carry with them for their entire life.
Sexual assault campaigns are vital to ending this issue. Each member of SigEp completes the Mentors in Violence Prevention training, educating us to be active bystanders. Proceeds we raise go to the Cedar Valley Friends of the Family to help victims. Leah Gutknecht, UNI’s Title IX Officer, supports these campaigns stating, “We’re proud of the ways UNI students have played an active role in addressing sexual misconduct. Our students are a critical part of our efforts.” This has nothing to do with us feeling better about ourselves. It has everything to do with ensuring victims have the resources they need and more preventive action is taken.
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Hunter Flesch, NISG President
Jared Riter, Sigma Phi Epsilon President
Gwen Bramlet-Hecker • Apr 4, 2017 at 12:13 pm
The Cedar Valley community is fortunate to have a number of agencies which provide support for survivors of sexual and domestic violence, including to the UNI student body.
Riverview Center provides free and confidential bilingual services to survivors of sexual violence including a 24/7 crisis line staffed with trained advocates, 24/7 response by advocates to survivors at the hospital going through the evidence gathering process, legal advocacy if survivors choose to pursue a legal response with law enforcement, ongoing general advocacy as survivors process and heal, therapy by master’s level counselors for as long as the survivor is in need, and prevention education programs provided to the school and community organizations. Riverview Center has a UNI Coordinator and Advocate with an office in the Wesley Center. To contact Riverview Center call 319-939-9599.
Waypoint Services provides free and confidential direct support services to survivors of domestic violence including 24-hour crisis and support line, ongoing medical and legal advocacy, and support groups with language access services available. They also provide services to the communities they serve as well as to allied professionals. To contact Waypoint Services call 800-208-0388
Cedar Valley Friends of the Family provides free and confidential assistance with emergency shelter and housing services for survivors of domestic of sexual violence. They also provide direct support services to survivors of human trafficking and violence education programs in communities throughout Iowa. To contact Cedar Valley Friends of the Family, call 800-410-7233.
Amani Community Services provides innovative culturally specific services to African American clients in Black Hawk and Linn Counties including counseling, outreach services, prevention services, personal and legal advocacy, children’s programming, and related information and community referrals. To contact Amani Community Services call 319-232-5660.
Each of these agencies also network with other culturally specific victim service organizations that provide services within this area, all part of their efforts to ensure survivors of sexual and domestic violence are not without access to the important services and support they need. If you or someone you care about has experienced the trauma of violence, please call. We believe you and we stand with you.
Gwen Bramlet-Hecker
Riverview Center