Akin’s comments seem to serve as a rallying cry – a ‘once more into the breach’ moment.  Anger, amazement, renewed purpose seem to mix together.  The Charge is On!  Some are pointing out that Akins is not the only one in recent years to make such outrageous comments.  (And to keep this from being partisan – folks from all backgrounds, political identities, etc, have made comments similar to Akins…) And this is all good – the energy feels great – we’re on the same page – we have a tight, consistent message and a clear example to work against.

And yet I’m also hearing a collective groan.  A pained whisper.  “Really? Are we still having this ‘conversation’ – again?”  It’s disheartening. One person I talked to asked, “What have we accomplished if this kind of (bleep!-bleep!-bleep!) continues to happen?”

I don’t have words of wisdom or insight that might reveal the mysteries of the universe.  I do know that the comments made most recently by Akins and others remind me to keep moving forward.  And while we may, at times, tire from repeating the same message again and again… I think we need to recognize that this is in fact part of the landscape for those of us that do this work and have a passion to end violence. Once the record plays we pick up the needle and return it to the start of the LP… and let the tune play again.  Soon, I hope, everyone will be dancing to the songs of non-violence, empowerment, healthy relationships, consent.  These are the cool jams…

If this helps, I say: surround yourself with loving people, talk about this, get angry, get sad, get excited – and then get back to the face-to-face.  Talk to people and tell them once again: All rape is wrong.  There is no such thing as ‘legitimate rape’.  And pass along a skill someone can use to help end this form of violence.

So, let do this!  “Once more into the breach, dear friends…”

- RISE Director

As I consider the year ahead and make plans for educational programming, etc. I think about what makes this work really WORK.  What really brings about CHANGE, an END to violence, HEALTHY relationships….

It’s the people in the community.  Really, it’s not a difficult formula to figure out…

When individuals in a community say ‘no’ to sexual violence and ‘yes’ to consent, ‘yes’ to respect, ‘yes’ to dialogue, and compassion… and when these individuals then come together to create a community – where one voice is multiplied by the dozens of others in support of each other – you have an amazing progressive movement to deal with!

I see that for Warren Wilson this year – as in years in the past – we CAN and we DO… we CAN be activists for non-violence and model consensual relationships.  We DO this work.

And I’m looking forward doing this work with you this year!

- RISE Director 

As I finished reading the Freeh Report last week – I was left wanting… the crimes Sandusky committed were not properly reported.  This is a crime.  And this violates the Clery Act.

But what about Title IX?  Where does the Freeh Report discuss Title IX… Why do I care?  Title IX goes further than Clery in requiring a college/educational community to RESPOND, to remediate, to educate, to ‘make right’ so this can never happen again…

Clery, while important to colleges to make clear and support proper reporting… Clery does not demand that systems that are broken and permit violence be corrected.  Perhaps with the penalties brought against Penn State, it becomes obvious that people at Penn need to learn about sexual violence and how to properly respond to sexual violence.  Perhaps it is obvious to Penn officials that prevention education (and more!) must happen.  Perhaps it will happen… Title IX makes sure it happens…

Additionally, and not to ‘pile on’, but I’m going to guess these aren’t the only crimes Penn State decided to ‘over-look’… are there other crimes Penn State mishandled? where is the response to those crimes?

There are many lessons and warnings in the Freeh Report for all of us that live/work/interact with colleges and other educational institutions…

Lesson One: Stop criminal behavior before it starts… Learn/Live/Support Respect/Boundaries/Healthy Relationships… Report crimes if you know about them… Report again if no one listened the first time… Get the victims out of harms way – Stop aggressors.

- The RISE Director

As always, if you need to talk about anything in this report, if you have questions about these issues, if you or a friend could use a little support – contact RISE!

The following is a snippet from a blog on the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (you can find the full post here):

“What I’ve come to is that we have a pervasive cultural and institutional problem that’s racking us. It should not take tragedy, crisis, or gross negligence to draw attention to harmful issues within our institutions, organizations, or communities. What do choices like the ones made at Penn State and countless other organizations say about the way we value children? Consistently, our cultures blames, bashes, criticizes, and silences people exposed to violence and abuse.”

I think this most closely mirrors my own thoughts these days – we seem to be in systems (institutions, organizations, etc) that serves to alienate and silence survivors and victims – but also works to silence bystanders and others that can do something – that can make change happen – that can stop the violence.

See, the thing is – any system is made up of individual parts.

A community is made up of individual people.

Institutions do what its people do.

Choices are not made by systems – but by people within systems.

What choices are you making?  what choices am I making?  how do I contribute to or challenge the system?

Ew, RISE Director

You can read what the New York Times has to say about the report here. Or the full report here.

Certainly for some reading these articles and reports will be challenging, for others angering – for all of us it should be a wake up call.  This should have never happened – sexual and relationship violence in all its forms should never happen. To anyone. Ever.

If you feel you want to talk about what you read – please contact RISE or call one of the many service providers out there – in the Asheville, NC area that can be Our Voice and nationally there is RAINN (which will connect you to a local agency).

While I am currently reading the full report – the NYT article is troubling.  Colleges and universities across the US need to take a moment to read and consider what is in this report – and then take appropriate action to see that this cannot happen again.  To anyone.  Ever.

RISE is committed to ending every form of relationship violence, sexual assault, stalking, and sexual harassment.  If you or someone you know wants to talk, is looking for support, wants to begin to heal, wants to end violence.  Talk to us.  Get involved.

- Ew, RISE Director

Research tells us when bystanders choose to get involved – not just in the moment of an assault – but more generally in their day-to-day actions with their community (click here for more on the ‘levels’ of prevention and intervention) – sexual assaults and intimate partner violence decrease.

Click here to learn more about the conference and hear reflections from some of the conference participants.

Want to help end violence at Warren Wilson College and support healthy, consensual relationships?  Email RISE! – we can use your energy, ideas and passion!

In part this expansion into the digital frontier is an experiment – in part it’s an acknowledgement that many already choose to connect to others (and keep up with various causes and events) via digital media (Facebook recently…?!).  RISE is about making connections – no matter how those connections happen – face-to-face or txt-to-txt – we want to connect to you! …and we find multiple methods of communication to be better than a one-size fits all approach…

Click here to connect to our growing list of social media connections!  We also offer links to local community and NC state digital connections.

If you have ideas for other links or connections – let us know!

(Update: as if right on cue and just as I hit ‘sent’ on the above entry – this comes from PreventConnect: Social Media, Social Life.

Again, at this time, this report from CNN is not conclusive – the investigation is ongoing… however, the issue of keeping sexual and relationship violence quiet fits a pattern of behavior many institutions take when dealing with these forms violence.

Institutions must not keep reports of violence quiet.  When one person or one program decides to keep “scandalous issues” (read: criminal behavior) internal to their program – the institution is damaged, the credibility of response programs are hurt – but most importantly, people are hurt and an aggressor is allowed to injure others.

The RISE Project encourages reporting.  Reporting helps us respond to the needs of survivors.  Reporting helps us address those that are hurting others.  Institutions cannot remain silent.  If you or someone you know has been hurt while at Warren Wilson College – please contact RISE, Public Safety or the Warren Wilson Counseling Center.

- The RISE Director