Many students have seen the brightly colored "Consensual Sex is Hot" T-shirts around campus without knowing their origin, but this Friday, Consent Day will bring back to Dartmouth not only a stack of T-shirts, but also its message and spreading awareness again on Wesbter Avenue.
Dartmouth's third annual Consent Day will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. on the lawns of Sigma Nu and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternities and Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority.
Designed to raise awareness about sexual abuse and violence, the two-hour event will feature a band, free barbecue, Ben and Jerry's ice cream and the ubiquitous free orange T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Consensual Sex is Hot" on the front.
A table manned by three to four sexual abuse peer advisors (SAPAs) will be asking attendees factual questions about sexual abuse to raise awareness, and whether attendees answer correctly or incorrectly, they will receive free T-shirts. KDE will also feature a performance by the reggae-rock band, "The Pants," which is comprised of members of the Rightly Guided Thieves and Casey Ley on lead vocals.
"We've had a really great response from the Greek houses on campus. They've been really supportive," Consent Day Co-Chair Julia Dempewolf '07 said. Yet despite the positive responses from involved Greek houses, Dempewolf still sees the need for more awareness about sexual abuse, particularly among the Class of 2007.
"Based on the response that we received from our class as far as recruiting volunteers and donating money, our class has been very unresponsive compared to other years," she said.
Dempewolf is one of three SAPAs who are co-chairing the event. She, Kristin Lieske '07 and Lucy Whidden '07 expressed interest in the event when Coordinator of Health Programs Laura Rubinstein sent a BlitzMail message to the SAPAs. Rubinstein needed volunteers to plan and organize the event, and Dempewolf, Lieske and Whidden stepped in.
A SAPA since her freshman Winter term, Dempewolf values the importance of sexual abuse awareness and participated in the 22-hour SAPA training session to learn how to help sexual abuse victims deal with their experiences and obtain help.
"I have dealt with sexual abuse of my own and wanted to learn more about the causes and consequences in general of sexual abuse," Dempewolf said. "I wanted to help others who are going through the same thing."
Dempewolf stressed the importance of raising sexual abuse awareness among those that need help and those who have never come in contact with sexual abuse issues. She said that if even one person learns a small fact about sexual abuse, the person will talk to other people about it and hopefully spread awareness of the issue.
In addition to a lackluster class response, Consent Day has also faced challenges in funding, stemming from a disagreement over policy guidelines with the Student Assembly.
"The Student Assembly thinks that College Health Services should cover the cost this year and so they're not giving," Dempewolf said. She said that while the Programming Board has a similar policy of only funding events that the College cannot, the Board has worked with the Consent Day organizers to finance food, the band and other parts of the event in an effort to show its support within its guidelines.
"The Student Assembly gave $2,000 toward [pre-Tubestock event] Taste of Dartmouth. It raised dialogue between students, but it didn't raise awareness toward an issue," Dempewolf pointed out.
The Assembly has maintained it will abstain from co-sponsorship of Consent Day to ensure student activity fees sponsor projects that have little or no administrative support. Without Student Assembly funding, the event is being funded by Health Resources and the contributions of all sponsoring Greek organizations.
Dempewolf feels her experiences and training as a SAPA also help her understand the importance of the event and the campus's need for change.
"I think that, as a SAPA, I'm definitely more aware of things that are legitimately sexual abuse but that our campus dismisses as part of our culture," Dempewolf said.
"Things like inappropriate grabbing at a dance party are considered normal by most on campus. It's definitely a form of sexual abuse, and I think that identifying it as such could really change our campus culture."
Dempewolf recalled being in a fraternity when someone came in wearing last year's Consent Day T-shirt, and men in the fraternity reacted positively by asking about it.
"When conversations are caused because of the shirt, it can cause changes," she said. "I think that we have to be realistic and know that it will be a gradual process, that you can't change things overnight. But I do think things can change, and things have changed due to Consent Day."
