According to Suzanne Dietzel, the director of the Women’s Resource Center, sexual violence against women on college campuses is a major problem.

Dietzel and Connie Briscoe, a staff counselor in the Counseling and Careers Services Center, are using some of the funds from the Violence Against Women on Campus Grant. Loyola received the grant in a consortium with Dillard University and Xavier University from the Department of Justice to establish the Loyola Sexual Violence Prevention Peer Education Program.

“The program is designed to raise awareness of sexual violence, date rape, nonconsensual sex, increase the reporting of sexual violence incidents and decrease [sexual] crimes against women on campus,” Dietzel said.

The sexual violence program works under the premise that students are more likely to listen to their fellow students than adults. Any student can apply to be a peer educator; the application process, which includes an interview, will focus on the applicant’s leadership skills, interest in combating sexual violence and self-awareness.

“It’s a democratic and bottoms up approach,” Dietzel said. “We hope students might listen to their peers.”

According to Dietzel, peer educators will be responsible for facilitating discussions and events against sexual violence. They can set up a lecture series or classroom discussions with professors.

“Also, a lot of the peer educators will live on campus, so students who have an issue will be able to go to a peer educator’s room to talk it out,” Dietzel said.

Peer educators will undergo an intense training session, including three hours of classroom instruction in the fall semester and then an hour of training every week during the spring semester.

The program also requires peer educators to provide three hours of peer education every week, and in the spring, they must present a minimum of three presentations. Peer educators will earn three hours of elective academic credit after completing all of the program’s requirements.

According to Dietzel, one of the major problems with sexual violence on campus, besides its occurrence, is that incidents are rarely reported, especially to University Police.

“We know it [sexual violence] occurs on campus,” Dietzel said. “You hear it through the grapevine, or students either tell counselors at the Counseling Center or us, here at the Women’s Center. But they don’t report it to campus police, and that’s part of what this program will try to change.”

According to Captain Roger Pinac of University Police, students complain more about domestic battery than sexual violence on campus.

Pinac said that in his 14 years of work with University Police, the most complaints of sexual violence the department has received is two in a year.

“Unfortunately, there’s a stigma with being labeled as a ‘victim,'” Pinac said. “And this is a personal issue – people don’t want to be in the public arena. I mean, would you want that to be written about in The Maroon?”

Ultimately, Pinac said, it is the victim’s choice whether to report crimes to University Police, and most choose not to because “the courts don’t care if you have exams or a presentation; regardless, they want you in that courtroom.”

Anna Koehl, a communications senior, said the sexual violence peer education program is a “great opportunity for Loyola and a great way to increase students’ awareness of sexual violence.

“We don’t have a huge problem with sexual violence on campus, but I think students need to be aware of what can happen to them on campus, as well as off campus, especially in life after graduation.”

Sarah Castagnetta can be reached at [email protected].