By TANNER COON
Contributing Writer
A group of 15 students attended an interest meeting of a brand-new club on campus. The club, called Free of Fear, was created by Matthew Eisner to promote awareness of sexual assault and relationship violence on college campuses, particularly at The College of Saint Rose.
Free of Fear is open to all students, staff, faculty, and administrators of the College. The goal of the club is to promote healthy relationships, while helping its members identify abusive relationships and encourage its members to stand against violent or toxic relationships, and provide a safe space for all students on campus, as stated by their club constitution.
The new group’s members are not trained professionals, so they will not act as a support group. Instead, the club urges those seeking a support group to visit the counseling center, Meghan Cahill, a senior, said. She participates in pageants where her platform is relationship violence: how to stop it and how to approach it.
The 15 people at the interest meeting all had different majors and interests. Some were a part of different clubs, and only five of them knew before coming into the meeting that The College of Saint Rose has a sexual assault committee. One of Free of Fear’s goals is to bridge the gap between the club and the sexual assault committee, Eisner said.
Some of the events the club has planned are to give out condoms, to have a movie or documentary showing on campus, to have guest speakers, which can include security to see what they do to prevent sexual assault on campus, and to have sex education in their future meetings.
“We are going to stress consent,” Eisner said. “That’s absolutely important.”
The club needs Student Association approval to be sponsored. With the SA approval, they can create a budget to use for their events and plans. To do that, the club needs at least 20 members.
If the club doesn’t get five more members, the current members will have to underwrite the events they have planned. The club’s first official meeting is on Wednesday, at 7:30 p.m. in Albertus 210. They will hold elections for the executive board positions.
The executive board members are expected to be trained next year with a 40-minute video used by the One Love Foundation called “Escalation.” In the video, an abusive relationship is shown and the video explains that “bystander intervention” is imperative in stopping relationship violence, Nicole Murdocca said.
Cahill worked with Terri St. George, from the counseling center on campus, to reach out to the One Love Foundation.
Along with the “Escalation” training, the executive board members are expected to attend at least two of the sexual assault committee meetings, where they talk about the different laws regarding sexual assault and what can be done about it.
Most bystanders, or people who see violence in relationships, don’t know how to handle the situation.
“It’s a lack of education,” Murdocca said. “They don’t know how to approach the topics.”
The One Love Foundation, the sexual assault committee, and Free of Fear all want to alleviate that lack of education and help bystanders take action against sexual abuse and relationship violence.
