Photo courtesy of James Brown
Contributing Writer James Brown
Hood College prides itself on making members of the community feel welcome and safe while providing an exceptional education to students.
Colleges and universities across the country have begun to try and maintain their healthy learning environments by raising awareness about sexual assault and unhealthy relationships among students.
An organization named ItsOnUs has dedicated itself to helping raise awareness about sexual assault on college campuses.
Last semester, Hood hosted an event called #WhatIsYes. Students may remember seeing posters around campus that dealt with consent.
One of the leading causes of sexual assault is the lack of consent.
Assistant Director and Captain of Campus Safety Errol Birch worked sex crimes in the Montgomery county area for over 20 years. Birch said that lengthy prison sentences are given to those who commit a sexual assault ranging from 10 years to life in prison depending on the nature of the assault.
However, many who commit sexual assaults are never charged because the incident was never reported by the victim. Although sexual assault and consent is a touchy subject, students were receptive to the messages about consent on campus and Hood is hoping to do the same about unhealthy relationship signs.
Hood will be hosting an event called Red Flags.
Le Nguyen ‘17 has been managing the event along with the assistance of the Title IX committee, The Brotherhood, Sisters Aspiring to Success, as well as Hood Republicans and Democrats clubs.
When asked why the Red Flags event was being held, Nguyen said, “[It is] mainly designed to empower and educate students to recognize, avoid, and intervene unhealthy relationships.”
Anne Lessard ’17, the co-chair of SAS, wanted to have her members involved.
Lessard said, “[We] felt that this campaign was something near and dear to our hearts and needed more student involvement”.
Nguyen cites lasts years #WhatIsYes event as one of her motivations to continue educating students about issues that all college campuses are facing.
Nguyen said, “I received a lot of positive feedback and constructive criticism from several students, faculty, and staff”.
A criticism of #WhatIsYes was that one gender felt as though they were being targeted. The Red Flags event intends to show unhealthy relationship signs that can be applied to either gender.
This year’s messages will use he/she/they pronouns to avoid one gender feeling singled out on a double sided issue.
The Red Flags Campaign has a wide range of organizations working closely together which shows that despite differences, sexual assault and unhealthy relationships are an issue that everyone agrees on.
Le Nguyen is hoping that the messages around campus will spark conversation and get people thinking about the issue of unhealthy relationships.
A forum will be held on Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. to discuss the posters and messages that are around campus. Students who have any questions about the Red Flags campaign should feel free to contact or speak with any of the leaders of the organizations involved.
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