Members of the Center for Gender, Sexuality and Activism met with Boston University President Robert Brown Monday to discuss Take Back the Night, a campaign against violence and sexual assault.
While CGSA’s biggest campaign is to create a rape crisis center, the meeting with Brown focused only on Take Back the Night, which is scheduled for March 30.
Public Relations Officer Michelle Weiser said a group of students continue to work on a formal proposal on the crisis center that will be presented to the administration.
Weiser, a College of Communication senior, said CGSA volunteers are also working on other projects related to the proposal.
“We will be holding events this week and next week to inform the community of our progress and to keep sexual assault education and prevention at the forefront of the student body’s attention,” she said in an email interview.
Feminist Collective member Katie Von Wald said the organization is supporting CGSA’s campaign.
“As a community, we want to show our support for sexual assault survivors and our demand for a safe campus,” Von Wald, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said.
FemCo is hosting Take Back the Night on March 30 at the BU Beach, Von Wald said. Members plan to feature a guest speaker, a student led discussion and an optional March.
“We really believe that our community, our BU, needs to be a safe community,” Von Wald said.
Von Wald said FemCo wants people to realize these are not radical ideas or events and that collective members try to make every voice heard.
“We’re actively trying to reach out to student groups, to reach out to the community of BU to show them that this is something that everyone wants,” she said. “Everyone wants to be safe.”
Student Union voted to support the CGSA’s idea for a rape crises center at their March 5 meeting, said Union President Howard Male. Senators will vote on a formal proposal for a rape crisis center on March 26. Male could not comment on whether or not he sees the proposal being passed.
“Without looking at it, I can’t say whether it’s going to meet the needs of some of the senators,” he said. “I know there are some senators who have some very specific requests.”
Male said regardless of whether or not the formal proposal gets passed, the senate endorses the concept.
“If something doesn’t get passed, it doesn’t mean that Student Union or the student body doesn’t support the idea,” he said. “It just means that the Student Union, in representing the student body, doesn’t believe that’s the most efficient or effective way.“
School of Management sophomore Ariel Prairie said she supports the creation of a rape crisis center because sexual assault victims need a safe place they can go to get trained help.
“I was sexually assaulted last year,” she said. “It was really emotional. Friends can be there for you, but they don’t always know the right thing to do or say.”
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