A new course will be offered next semester in an effort to heighten awareness of a problem endemic to college campuses across the country - rape and sexual assault. Entitled "Rape Crisis Counselor Certification Training," it will attempt to help students deal with this issue by certifying them in rape counseling.
The class is being offered by the Women's Center through the physical education department. It will be the regular certification program for rape counseling, and will be taught by instructors from the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC). Students enrolled in the course will meet for three hours once a week and will learn about rape trauma syndrome, counseling techniques, issues concerning adolescence, and information about the medical and legal systems.
"One of our goals is to increase awareness of rape and sexual assault on campus and this is a way to do that," Women's Center Director Peggy Barrett said.
The class is part of a larger effort by the Women's Center to address the issue of rape and sexual assault, and a future goal is to establish a 24-hour student-run beeper system next fall. The plan is to form a response team that will take calls from students who have been raped or sexually assaulted. Barrett described the hotline as "a source of information where [students] will get a chance to ask questions in a non-judgmental, confidential place."
Once they reach the hotline, callers would have access to information about rape and sexual assault, including what symptoms they may be experiencing, taking disciplinary action against the offender, and preserving medical evidence of the assault. In addition to medical and legal advice, callers would receive emotional support and would be directed to other resources that may be of help, such as the Tufts Counseling Center.
"[The students who run the hotline] would provide advocacy for the students," said Barrett, "and part of that advocacy will be linking the callers up with whatever services they want or need."
The establishment of a student-response team is contingent upon completion of next semester's course, as students who are certified to deal with rape and sexual assault would run the team. The course seems to be of interest to students, as its maximum capacity of 25 students was filled during registration. However, Barrett said that she does not know how many of the registered students are seniors, which would mean that they would not be on campus in the fall to participate in the hotline.
Barrett said that this potential new service is not meant to compete with current counseling services offered to the Tufts community, such as the Ears for Peers hotline or the Counseling Center. Rather, the rape and sexual assault hotline would work in conjunction with these services and refer callers there if necessary.
"What we're hearing from students is that they may be more likely to call a service that has rape or sexual assault in its description," said Barrett. "We're aiming at the calls we're not getting, rather than the ones that are coming in."
Barrett said that she thinks there are, in fact, many cases when a hotline like this may be helpful, as according to the FBI, 70 percent of rapes go unreported.
Students who registered for the course said they did so because they share this concern.
"Over the last few years," sophomore Melissa Carson said, "I know that there have been unreported rapes on campus and it disturbs me that they've gone unreported... I just feel like it's something that's common on college campuses." Carson decided to enroll in the course because she felt that it was an important program to support, and will consider working on the proposed hotline.
The rape certification course was made possible by a large grant that the Women's Center received last fall from the Department of Justice's Violence Against Women Grant Office. The grant will allow the Women's Center to bring instructors from BARCC onto the Medford campus.
The new course is one of several changes implemented at the Women's Center, as it recently moved back into its house at 55 Talbot Avenue after being temporarily relocated for renovations. The facility, which was once shared with the Latino Center, is now devoted entirely to the Women's Center.
Barrett said that the physical expansion of the Women's Center will allow it to expand the services it offers. "The Women's Center is going to be a place where students can find many resources," she said. "Anything we can think of will be there."
The Center will offer information about health, sports, and internships, and it also maintains contact with the Boston area to keep students informed of events and jobs.
