The Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Education opened in Elm Hall this semester with the goal of educating students and providing a confidential resource for victims of sexual assault.

The idea for this office was conceived by Dean for Students, Dr. Lisa Bardill Moscaritolo, after taking inspiration from other schools’ programs, sexual assault prevention laws like “Enough is Enough”, as well as the governmental issued “Dear Colleague” letter which told schools to heighten their prevention measures.

“Part of the requirement is to have confidential options for students to come too, and a standardized process for how sexual assaults are dealt with. This includes access to a student bill of rights, students being aware they can go outside the university should they desire in terms of seeking state police involvement, and a standardized way of how the judicial process is dealt with in the school,” Director of the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Education, Mary Breen, said.

According to Sociology professor, Marie Werner, up until last year, Pace University didn’t have an effective mechanism for dealing with sexual assault.

“Last year a female student left Pace because she didn’t want to tell anyone [she was sexually assaulted,],” Werner said. “Hypothetically, if someone was assaulted by a group like a sports team or fraternity, her life will be a living hell, and that’s for any university, not just Pace.”

Breen seeks to educate students about what constitutes sexual assault because often times those who commit it aren’t aware they are committing a sexual assault.

“There are many reasons for [why they believe they are not committing a sexual assault], there’s very heavy, strong cultural implications, the education piece comes in and says ‘no that’s not okay, and this is what consent means,’” Breen said.

Breen has worked with Orientation Leaders (OLs) so they can educate people on what constitutes sexual harassment, consent, what to do when something is reported, and how to talk to students about these issues. OLs also created a presentation to show during orientation called “It’s Real” to educate the incoming freshmen on these issues.

The office has also created a comprehensive Residential Assistants (RAs) training program in order to teach them how to respond correctly to sexual assault, use the right vocabulary, and how to set boundaries on how to not become overly emotionally involved.

So far the office has had a table at the Social Justice fair, giving away condoms and card holders for phones. It also has educated people about consent and hosted a “Sexpert” event with Dr. Justine Marie Shuey.

The condoms and cardholders are branded with a “Pace FIRE” logo, and the hashtag the office is using on social media is #consentislit, which Peer Educator, Kelly Lang, came up with.

“’Consent is lit’ is kind of like lighting the match, spreading the fire, it is powerful,” Breen said.

The office has events planned for the rest of the semester. In October, it will table for domestic violence awareness and give out purple nail polish and information. In November, they will host a “Gratituesday” event, letting participants write things that they are grateful for, and will cosponsor with whichever organization hosts “Take Back the Night”.

Corrections: “Take Back the Night” is not hosted this semester, it’s in the Spring.

Orientation Leaders (OLs) should have been Peer Educators (PEs).

Title IX coordinator, Lisa Miles, was called but did not respond.