TAKE BACK THE NIGHT EVENT APRIL 28: TAKING ON SEXUAL ASSAULT

While the COVID-19 pandemic has been with us for over a year, creating challenges, anxiety, social isolation and chaos, another silent epidemic has quietly continued to affect the health and safety of thousands of college students, including those at MHCC. This epidemic is sexual violence.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Like many colleges, MHCC is taking action to increase awareness to bring about change, promote healing, equity and social justice – to create a tomorrow free of sexual violence, and end all forms of harassment and discrimination.

According to a 2016 Bureau of Justice Statistics report, “one in five female undergraduates have experienced some kind of sexual assault while in college… (w)hile one in sixteen men are victims of an attempted or completed assault.” The report included survey responses from 15,000 women and 8,000 men, and defined sexual assault as including both rape and sexual battery, such as forced kissing, touching, grabbing or fondling. (Krebs, Lindquist, Berzofsky, Shook-Sa, Peterson, Bureau of Justice Statistics, January 2016.)

The impacts of these assaults are life-changing, especially in our LGBT community, and many go unreported. Victims of sexual assault often suffer physical and emotional trauma that can linger for years and expand into every aspect of their lives.

On Wednesday, April 28 at 2 p.m., please join Tracy Sterba, our Associated Student Government Campus Safety & Sustainability Representative as she hosts a live Zoom “Take Back the Night” presentation, with guest speakers Courtney Drew and Brian Kent.

I encourage the MHCC campus community to unite in solidary against sexual violence and participate with the Associated Student Government’s “Take Back the Night” advocacy in action event with featured guest speakers. Our collective voices can bring about change, an opportunity to be the solution, talk about the problem, and to have those uncomfortable conversations.

Preventing sexual violence in our campus community takes more than an event, it takes all of us working together.

Everyone must play a role in creating a culture of safety, equality, and respect. Our collective actions have a ripple effect on those we interact with; from modeling healthy behavior to addressing inappropriate conduct, everyone can make a difference. Look for the ASG forthcoming Zoom invite in your email.

If you, or another student you know are a survivor of sexual violence, or you need to reach out to talk to someone, please connect with an MHCC counselor for support and resources:

Career Planning and Counseling Center (CPCC) (Confidential Reporting for Students) Email: [email protected] to schedule a personal counseling appointment.

NOTE: The Career Planning & Counseling Center has “Live Chat” for instant messaging with front-desk staff for appointment scheduling. Students can instant message by going to https://mhcc.edu/cpcc/ and a pop-up chat box will appear when they’re active.

Gresham Campus, Room AC 1152

Call: 503-491-7432 (leave a message – staff working remotely)

Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

If urgent care or crisis response is needed, please call 911 or the Multnomah County Crisis Line at 503-988-4888 or toll-free at 800-716-9769.

Cherilyn Nederhiser

Lead Public Safety, MHCC