The University of Missouri’s Panhellenic Association will implement a new sexual violence prevention plan this fall semester for sororities. It will reach about five thousand college-aged women.
Carolyn Welter, Vice President of public relations for the association, said that educating women can help raise awareness of sexual violence issues happening around them. She said it can also help reduce the number of sexual assaults in the community.
"Through our research we’ve kind of realized that there is a lack of education surrounding sexual violence just in terms of even the definition of sexual violence and what is an act of sexual violence and what can be prosecuted,” Welter said.
Kendall Foley, Vice President of risk management for the association, is an advocate for the plan because it will teach women the meaning of sexual violence in order to keep them safer. Foley said it will help women coming to college for the first time feel more comfortable speaking about sexual violence.
“We found it really important to be educating them right at the very beginning. We know they are most at risk in their first semester, so that felt really important to us,” Foley said.
Foley also said that under the plan sorority chapter leaders will go through training on how to report sexual violence.
Executive Director of the Missouri Coalition against Domestic and Sexual Violence, Colleen Coble, said it is important to applaud student leaders for creating a sexual violence prevention plan on their own as a part of a campus and community wide program.
“I think one of the most positive aspects is that it is student led, that it is flexible and allows for the ongoing education of the members of the sororities and fraternities and the entire college campus as an outgrowth,” said Coble.
