Preventing Sexual Assault at Frostburg State University

Preventing Sexual Assault at Frostburg State University

By: Natasha Okpala Eng. 336.002

On September 15, 2011 at 7p.m., The BURG Peer Educating Network sponsored the forum on preventing sexual assault. The forum was discussing the issue on sexual assault against men and women. It lasted about an hour and had many speakers. The first speaker was Patricia Malatt and she is the secretary of BURG. “Good evening everyone and welcome to the second annual RED ZONE FORUM. Tonight we have speakers here telling you all about different departments that can help with sexual assault situations, whether you have been a victim or know someone that has been a victim of it. Here to start us off is Dr. Jonathan Gibralter.”

Dr. Gibralter is the President of Frostburg State University. After he was done speaking, he introduced Mike Murtagh, who was the MC for the evening/event. He’s a part of the Faculty of Psychology Department. He then introduced Mike Bice, who is from the Allegany County Health Department. He was telling us about how we shouldn’t let other people give us drink, how we should get it ourselves because you never know what someone could have put in them. Mr. Bice got back the mic and introduced Taness Cline and Rhonda Pick. They are Family Crisis Resource Center Counselors.

“The services here are free of charge and don’t worry about insurance. We work with victims that have already been raped”, said Taness Cline. Spencer Deakin, FSU Counseling and Psychological services, was next up to speak. “Consuming alcohol to the point that the victims can’t consent to sex is considered rape.” Debi Wolford R.N., Western Maryland Health System, respond to people that need hospital services. They also help test for STD’s and HIV. Amy Kiddy is with Brady Health Center.

Chief Cynthia Smith is with the Frostburg State University Police Department. She was basically educating us about safety when we go out to parties and that we should be very careful around certain people. The last speaker was Katie Deal and she was affiliated with BURG Peer Education Network. She told us the acronym of what RED ZONE stood for. R is for raising awareness. E is for emphasizing safety. D is for dispelling myths. Z is for zero tolerance. O is for ownership (of your body). N is for no means no. E is for educating.

After all the speakers were done speaking, it was time for some Q&A. A lot of students had some great questions and the speakers made sure to give us some great answers back. Sexual assault is a crime, it’s any form of unwanted sexual touching or penetration without consent, and may be accomplished by fear, threats of harm and/or actual physical force. You can reduce your risk of sexual assault by trusting your gut, being in charge of your own life, not mixing sexual decisions with drugs and alcohol, being assertive, and communicating.