We are a group of CSULB students who are concerned about the way the university educates students about campus sexual assault. We believe the video training program sent out by the university was ineffective, because it was too short, did not provide students the opportunity to discuss, and perpetuated myths about sexual assault. Moreover, our understanding is that it was largely either ignored or not take seriously by many of our peers.

Campus sexual assault should be taken more seriously. We propose that a 4 week, 1 unit GE course would more effectively educate students about sexual assault. This course should be developed by sexual assault specialists to ensure that accurate and comprehensive information on the subject of sexual assault is provided. Research shows that it takes at least 10 in-person sessions of this kind of training for it to be effective. And that’s not surprising! Many of us have questions about sexual assault that just can’t be answered by a twenty-minute video. We need to be able to address this topic in a safe setting with a real person there to help us through “grey areas”. Consent laws, bystander intervention, rape myths and facts; there are so many things we need to be talking about that can’t be addressed in a 20-minute online video.

It is our hope that this class, which would be mandatory for all entering freshman and transfer students, would surpass the preventative potential of the online video training by providing students with more information and the opportunity to discuss with an expert and their peers. Additionally, the length of the course would be short enough that it wouldn’t pose an undue inconvenience to students’ academic scheduling, but long enough to adequately educate students about sexual assault so that real change may occur.

In addition to signing our petition, we hope you will fill out this short survey to share your thoughts on the sexual assault prevention education video: 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1qqh-jFQpOcmIlvZY0Tnuh9rlPhcR_fCU2sSRVY5839A/viewform?entry.2071541217

Support our petition and tell the CSULB Academic Senate that campus sexual assault is an important issue to you!