The Center for Gender + Sexualities (CG+S) hosted its annual Take Back the Campus event, offering support and resources to survivors and a safe space for all. The event featured tabling from local support resources, wellness-centered crafts and a keynote speech from Hamline alumni Rose-Marie Athiley.
Athiley noted in her speech both the importance of the event and the timeliness of it.
“College students are at an increased risk for sexual violence in the first few months of their first semester … because we are already in the third month, I know there are members of this community that need our support right now,” Athiley said.
That support is what CG+S program assistant, and recent Hamline alumni Crystal Camacho wants to provide to the Hamline campus, both through the event and with their continued work at the center.
“There doesn’t have to be this declaration that this happened, or this happened, but just having the community come together and say, ‘We’re creating this space for you, we’re gonna make it known that we love you, we hear you, we see you,’” Camacho said.
Community building is an integral part of building safe spaces, Athiley noted in her speech.
“We’re not taking back the campus as individuals, we’re taking back the campus as a collective community,” Athiley said.
Creating community support is important, but Camacho emphasizes the importance of having resources that offer more than just comfort to survivors.
“I know so many students who also went through something and never said anything to anyone: never beyond friends,” Camacho said. “And we can be support systems, but we can only do so much.”
The organizations tabling at the event offer the kind of professional support that can make a real difference in the lives of survivors when words of support are not simply enough.
“It doesn’t matter how many conversations you have, how many resources you read, how many posters are in the hallway. That does not matter when you experience [sexual violence], because when you experience it, it’s life shattering.” Camacho said.
One resource tabling the event, The Dakota Child and Family Clinic, offers equitable support for the local community, prioritizing high quality care for everyone and provides physical and mental health care to those with and without health insurance.
Other local groups included Women’s Advocates, Breaking Free and the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault. These groups offer support such as housing and pet fostering to victims of domestic violence, hotlines for victims of sexual violence and local activism to implement protections and prevention for sexual assault.
“Our goal is to give [students] the resources. However they use it — if they use it — is on them, but if we can provide it to you, we’ve done our jobs,” Camacho said.Being new to campus, first-year Kylie Jones has wanted to attend more events and enjoyed the community and crafting at Take Back the Campus, but she also appreciated the chance to talk about tough topics.
“I think it’s important as students that we understand that other students are also involved in this conversation,” Jones said. “I’m a first-year, and there’s a lot of scary things about that, and I feel like being able to have a space where we can all talk about our own experiences, or even not have to, and just be safe, is really nice.”
As a takeaway, Camacho notes that despite all the positive community building and safe spaces, there is always more work to be done.
“I know there’s a lot of stigma surrounding [sexual assault] and as much as we want to believe we have a super safe campus, I don’t think any campus that exists is so safe and has built that security within their students and community that anyone who experiences something like that is always going to tell somebody,” Camacho said. “So what do we do? I don’t think we have to do events that make people feel like ‘Now I want to tell my story,’ I think it’s just more letting them know that we see you, we love you, you’re so worthy of love, healing, and also you’re not alone.”