In the wake of allegations of rape at the Sigma Chi fraternity house, members of the University of Wisconsin community gathered Tuesday night to discuss sexual assault and suggest methods for improving campus resources in the future.
Dean of Students Lori Berquam moderated a panel of experts who spoke on sexual assault resources and the legal and university structures in place for when a victim files a report.
Berquam said she believed the forum went well, saying it represented the caliber of engagement she is seeking in UW students on this “critical campus issue.”
“It met my objectives, which I stated are gathering and sharing resources, identifying the processes that exist and then lastly kind of giving some feedback on what we could do to fill the gaps,” Berquam said.
Many panel members and students in attendance stressed a need for a change in the climate on campus surrounding sexual assault.
Ally Cruickshank, panelist and chair of Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment, said it is an issue that reaches beyond what prevention and treatment programs implemented can cure.
“It’s about our own attitudes, it’s about how we behave with one another and it’s about our cultural standards about what it means to hold perpetrators accountable,” Cruickshank said. “It’s about comments we’re making everyday when we put each other down, when we don’t respect each other’s bodies and space.”
The forum was scheduled after the victim of a rape that allegedly took place at the Sigma Chi house last fall told her story to The Badger Herald last week.
Stephen Montagna, a member of the nonprofit organization Men Stopping Rape, echoed several other audience members in saying he was disturbed by the negative climate created by many of the responses to the story posted on the Internet.
Panelist and Associate Dean of Students Kevin Helmkamp said there is a need for students, especially male students, to begin taking a proactive approach to facilitating a more positive approach to sexual assault.
“We encourage you to not minimize the simple effect you can have with the guys that you know. Those things that diminish other people, call them on it. I don’t know if that will change end result regarding sexual assault, but I’m real sure it will make the University of Wisconsin a better place,” Helmkamp said.
Sigma Chi President Andrew Thalhimer was among those present at the forum. Thalhimer said he supported the initiatives presented by the panel, adding Sigma Chi wants to extend its full support.
He declined to comment further.
Associated Students of Madison Chair Brittany Wiegand was also in attendance and said it is important to maintain a continued dialogue on campus about sexual assault.
“I wish that we could have these kinds of conversations consistently throughout the year instead of just when something bad happens on campus,” Wiegand said. “It challenges a lot of societal beliefs and attitudes toward these kinds of things and I think that is really important.”
