A demonstration on Mudd Field organized by the Sexual Assault and Rape Anonymous Helpline (S.A.R.A.H) for Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) was damaged on Friday, April 7th. 

Students at Washington University who work in mental health services or mental health care advocacy are searching for ways to address the emerging mental health needs of students while also grappling with obstacles to providing care caused by the pandemic.

Calls for empathy will go unanswered and largely unfulfilled if we first do not understand the barriers to empathizing with people different from ourselves.

To combat the issue of sexual assault on campus, Washington University offers numerous sexual assault prevention and education programs and services for students—especially those who have experienced an incident—which include the Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center, Leaders in Interpersonal Violence Education and Sexual Assault and Rape Anonymous Helpline.

S.A.R.A.H.’s permanent funding is just one among many in a large expansion of staffing and funding for sexual assault prevention programs and crisis services on campus. The changes, which also include a new research initiative to assess and improve sexual assault prevention methods, are intended to educate students and could have a national effect on how campus sexual assault is addressed.

Student Union and S.A.R.A.H. are proud to announce “It’s On Us, Wash U”: a campaign designed to spark conversation about sexual assault at Washington University and make a pledge to improve our campus culture. “It’s On Us, Wash U” makes the University a part of the White House’s “It’s On Us” campaign.

Every year, Student Union allows student groups to appeal for a lump sum directly out of its general budget. These funds, called block funding, allow groups to pay for long-term, high-cost initiatives without going through the typical allocation process.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), women aged 16-24 not only experience rape at a rate four times higher than the assault rate of all women, but 25 percent of these women have been victims of rape or attempted rape since turning 14 years old, around the onset of puberty.

More than two years after the hiring process formally began—and almost two decades after the first conversations about the position—Washington University has finally filled a position that will coordinate sexual assault prevention and education efforts on campus. The news that Kim Webb will lead a new Office of Community Health and Sexual Assault Services next year is long overdue.

Halloween is fun. Battering your girlfriend until her face is swollen and her lips are bloody is not.