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Sexual assault forum tonight
UW Dean of Students Lori Berquam will address issues following new allegations
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Dean of Students Lori Berquam will host a forum at on campus tonight to discuss sexual assault issues and provide students with information on resources available through the university.
The forum will take place at 6:30 p.m. in room 1121 of the Mosse Humanities Building and is open to all students, staff and faculty.
“My desires for this are to really educate the campus community on sexual assault and the resources that are available [to them],” Berquam said. “The point is to give the campus what they need on these very critical campus issues.”
The forum was scheduled as a response to in increase in discussion of sexual assault on campus after allegations were made last week of a rape at the Sigma Chi fraternity.
Berquam said a panel of experts will present resources available to students and discussion on how the University of Wisconsin community can come together to address the issue on campus will be encouraged.
“If somebody is unhappy about something, [or] if someone has an idea of something that could be improved or instituted, this is the place to come,” Berquam said.
Kelly Anderson, forum panelist and executive director of the Dane County Rape Crisis Center, said she believes the forum will be an effective way to convey information to students about the resources available to them.
“I am hopeful that this discussion will be about the broader issue and will be about making campus more well-informed,” Anderson said. “I have seen the defensive reaction around the Greek system and fraternities feeling blamed and judged, and I hope there is a positive component to this that starts a discussion on campus.”
Anderson said she expects to personally act as an informant about RCC, which operates out of University Square as a resource for victims of rape.
While RCC receives funding from student segregated fees, it operates separately from the university and provides free services to victims while allowing them to preserve anonymity.
While she deals with sexual assault victims who are college-aged every day, Anderson said it often takes a public case before the general public can be mobilized.
“The fact is, until an incident happens, it can be really hard to generate this kind of energy to address it,” Anderson said. “It’s easy to talk about it and judge and blame based on this one situation, [but] the broader issue is that this is a tragic part of every college campus and this is happening much too frequently on the UW campus.”
Other panelists will include a violence prevention specialist, the chair of Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment, the director of Student Advocacy and Judicial Affairs and representatives of the Offices of the Dean of Students, Associated Students of Madison and UW and Madison police departments.
Overall, Berquam said she hopes the community and student body are well represented at the forum.
“I hope it’s a give and take,” Berquam said.
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How surprising … Lori Berquam calls for a forum. That’s her only solution she has for anything.
What is the campus doing now, for this is not an isolated incident at Sigma-chi fraternity???? Date Rape allegations have been linked to this fraternity since 2003!!!!! A crime has been reported, bruised thighs, torn vigina, bloody & swollen lip, what does it take to bring in these women abusers???
This forum better conclude with an angry pitchfork armed march down Langdon. Yea you know where we’re going you fucking scum.
I graduated in 2006 and was a member of a sorority on campus. Allegations of rape at Sigma Chi have been around since 2002, 2003, and probably before. They need to be stopped and the girls, past and present deserve justice!
more punctuation, probably.
I call for a forum to fire Lori Berquam
Discussions, discussions, my ass!!!! Lets all talk about it and it will die down. The FRAT assholes will graduate with hi-fives all around and these girls will be messed up the rest of their lives. Why is’nt anybody breaking kneecaps around here??? If any guy has a girlfriend or sister on campus, imagine this happening to them. Telling people it happens all the time is B S!!!!!!
Everybody on campus should treat those frats like the SCUMBAGS they are until the culprits step forward. They are laughing at everyone now because they know nothing ever becomes of their abuses over the years
It would be more effective to have a discussion about the situation at hand!!! Not about the safety precautions!! The victim is not to blame no matter what!!! How about those Frat boys stop covering for each other and turn someone in!!!
Let’s have an open dialogue and an exchange of ideas. So much more effective than (a) prosecuting crime and (b) properly shunning/booting entities that tolerate crime.
If Sigma Chi’s rep goes back years, then WTF are girls doing dating these douchebags and going to parties at that house?
Notice the talk of their rep, but really they have a reputation for receiving unproven allegations and never being charged with a single crime. So I guess they have a rep for innocence. Shocking how people can run their mouths with nothing in their heads. Why don’t you all take your hate out on something else, and let the people invovled (none of you) handle the “grown up” problems. Clearly, none of you are capable as you ask for broken knee caps and marches down Langdon. Real tough to make an annonymous comment. Why don’t you do something constructive to help the situation, like stay out of the way.
How is anyone supposed to remember what Sigma Chi did in the past. If the University fails to punish this Frat, the University fails to protect its students.