I'm sure that by now, everyone has read this article by Jason Cruz over at the Reporter. If you haven't, now is a great time to do so. After reading this sucker-punch of an article, I was angry. Like, really angry. Like, "ready to march on DeLand Hall all by myself if I have to" kind of angry. Thankfully, I was not alone in my reaction to this article. Students around Stetson have been sharing and commenting and creating all sorts of ruckus around this article and this case.

Now, before I go any further, I just wanted to say that I know that the facts of exactly what happened in this exact case are highly controversial and that not everybody believes "Jennifer's" (original names redacted) side of the story. However, even if we're operating on the premise that she is lying, the way in which the investigation was conducted in the first place was deeply flawed. (But by the way, I can't believe she's lying; a man is much more likely to be a survivor of sexual assault than to be falsely accused of it. One out of five college women is a survivor of sexual assault, and their cases should be treated with dignity, respect, and sensitivity.)

With this anger and the need to express it effectively, about a dozen of us decided to organize a protest. We contacted faculty, staff, and the Title IX administrators, and got the word out to students on Facebook. About twelve hours later, we descended on the green, armed with mattresses, pillows, posters, and about forty other students. After some marching and passing out fliers to inform students of their Title IX rights, we settled in on the green for a sit-in.

In addition to students, administrators and counselors also attended the event. The Dean of Students, Lynn Schoenberg, and the head Title IX coordinator, Shannon Sheppard attended the protest to address our concerns. Both officials took several hours in the Florida heat to answer the questions of students and take suggestions on how Stetson's Title IX office can improve. They stated that their top priorities were campus safety and security, the well-being of students, and sexual violence on campus.

To be totally honest, the first half of the Q&A seemed like a lot of the same buzzwords we have heard in the past about how Stetson is committed to inclusive excellence or significance or whatever the heck the PR statement is that day.

During the second half of the Q&A, however, the tone of the conversation shifted to concrete ideas and initiatives, and that's when I realized that we might be able to make a difference. Some of the ideas tossed around were higher inclusion of Greek life in small-group sexual assault seminars, a full-time Title IX investigator, and a specific women's health and Title IX clinic on campus. The most concrete and probable idea, however, was the recommendation that Stetson require a student to attend events on sexual assault as a part of the cultural credit program.

This new requirement that a student should attend a sexual assault awareness event as a cultural credit could help to further educate Stetson's campus on sexual assault prevention, awareness, and their Title IX rights. The petition can be found here, and I highly encourage my fellow students to sign it. Sexual assault should not be a part of the college experience.