Alum returns to host sexual assault workshop for men

In mid-January, D.C. non-profit group Men Can Stop Rape will offer an educational program exclusively for men about sexual assault prevention in Village C West’s Alumni Lounge. The event has heavy support from on-campus fraternities.

According to Sean Foley (MSB ‘15), organizer of the event, the program will be funded by grants from MCSR and will receive no University resources. While Foley reached out to several nonprofits, MCSR was one of the first groups to respond, and he felt that the organization most closely aligned with his vision for the program.

Jared Watkins (COL ’11), development coordinator of MCSR, will keynote the event. Watkins was one of the founders of Men of Strength in 2008, an on-campus sexual assault prevention group that is no longer active.

“[I will] focus on the role men can play in preventing sexual violence and advocating for healthy, nonviolent masculinity,” wrote Watkins in an email to the Voice.

The program will be open to male students only. “This is the first [male-only sexual misconduct program] that I know of,” said Foley. “It was not my decision, and I do not know the exact logistics behind it, but I do know that Mr. Watkins is trying to get a little specific with the audience to have the most impact possible.”

He said that there was no intention of discrimination and said that future events may be open to both men and women.

Foley originally thought of the idea for the program in a class entitled “Leadership” taught by Professor Brooks Holtom. After talking to some of his closest friends on what they considered necessary at Georgetown, Foley decided to focus his attention on sexual assault education.

“The project was to make a difference in your community … and I really wanted to do something on campus that I felt would have a really big impact,” Foley said. “This was something that really struck me as an emotional issue, where there is definitely progress to be made.”

Foley has reached out to several fraternities to increase participation. Thus far, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Alpha Phi Omega, Alpha Epsilon Pi, and Sigma Phi Epsilon have signed on to co-sponsor the event.

“We’re bringing this opportunity to our fraternity … not because we’ve noticed any deficit of education amongst our group, but because we think that this is an excellent program for anyone,“ wrote Samuel Greco (SFS ’15), president of SAE, in an email to the Voice.

These fraternities hope to promote a violence-free culture and dispel the image of sexual misconduct that often surrounds fraternities.

“I think that there is a very real stigma that fraternities carry of being organizations that permit or encourage sexual violence,” Freeman Condon (NHS ‘14), outgoing President of SigEp, wrote in an email to the Voice. “Everything I have seen of my brothers in [SigEp] has shown me that this could not be further from the truth. We want to show the community that we’re willing to do whatever we can to make it a thing of the past.”

Foley believes that although there are a lot of campus resources for sexual assault recovery, there is room for improvement on spreading awareness. Georgetown University’s statistics on the number of sexual assault cases are consistent with the national average, and accordingly, Carol Day, director of health education services, said that more education on sexual assault is still important.

“There is always work to be done … it takes special training and education to become better at understanding the complexities inherent in the issue,” Day wrote in an email to the Voice.

Director of the Women’s Center Laura Kovach hopes to see groups like Men Can Stop Rape coordinate with other University resources, including the Women’s Center, R U Ready, and Take Back the Night.

“We need to challenge ourselves to understand these crimes in a deeper way, to be supportive of survivors and their stories and challenge the harmful effects of rape culture,” she wrote in an email to the Voice.

Through the program, Foley hopes that there will be a wholesale culture change in the way students perceive sexual assault. “This is just a step,” he said, “but by working with others, including professionals and socially cognizant individuals and groups on campus, it can be the start of something really good for Georgetown.”