Members of the executive branch of the IU Student Association had a forum on student safety open for all students to attend at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Ten people attended the event, including Karis Neufeld, co-president of Raising Awareness of Interactions in Sexual Encounters.
“I really wanted to hear what other students were saying, other students who were dedicated to contributing to the safety of campus and making it a more safe place,” Neufeld said. “A lot of the people I talk to work with the specific issue of sexual assault, and I wanted other, outside perspectives.”
Attendees mostly discussed the issue of sexual assault. Part of discussion centered on possible solutions to changing the culture of campus, as well as practices which could be put in place to make students feel safer.
One point made during the meeting was that the information presented in MyStudentBody, an online drug, alcohol and sexual well-being educational program required for freshmen, is not continually emphasized throughout students’ time at IU.
Attendees were interested in extending such education throughout the four years most undergraduates are on campus as well as distributing information on drugs, alcohol and sexual well-being that is more specific to IU.
The issues of poor lighting off campus and ways to make students walking home feel safer were also discussed. Another idea mentioned was the creation of a hotline for students to call when walking late at night, since many students already call family or friends while walking home as a way to feel safer, IUSA Chief of Staff Sara Zaheer said.
The idea for the forum came out of a conversation about a month ago between Zaheer and Sarah Kissel, a junior who worked on the current IUSA administration’s campaign last year. Kissel is a former columnist for the Indiana Daily Student.
Zaheer said one day she and Kissel, as well as IUSA Chief of Outreach Rebecca Yeakey, talked about how unsafe they feel in Dunn’s Woods
