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SALT LAKE CITY — A University of Utah fraternity is going where few fraternities have gone before — advocating for the prevention of sexual assault and rape.
Beta Theta Pi hosted its latest forum on the topic Thursday in front of a crowded auditorium at the Spencer Fox Eccles Business Building and has received a grant from the Robin McGraw Revelation Foundation to continue and expand its work.
“It’s really been incredible to see the evolution and the dialogue that our campus is starting to take part in,” said fraternity chapter president Mitchell Cox. “Hopefully as a fraternity and as a chapter we are able to encourage others or inspire others in some capacity to join us in this issue and hopefully prevent it overall.”
Instructors and administrators acknowledge this level of fraternity involvement to address rape and sex assault is rare.
The fraternity sponsored its first forum last year.
“It started with a simple forum and about 50 people there, and today we had an auditorium full of students, campus administrators, clinical professionals,” Cox said.
It's really been incredible to see the evolution and the dialogue that our campus is starting to take part in. Hopefully as a fraternity and as a chapter we are able to encourage others or inspire others in some capacity to join us in this issue and hopefully prevent it overall.
–Mitchell Cox, fraternity chapter president
Panelists at the Thursday forum included Rape Recovery Center clinical director Melinda Pettingill and therapist Josh Newbury, SlutWalkSLC executive director Tiffany Thorne and undergraduate student Tara Streng, who did her honors thesis on university sexual assault policy. Marty Liccardo with the University of Utah’s Center for Student Wellness moderated.
Pettingill said she believed the crowd of students was engaged in the discussion and asked questions about how they could shift and shape their own behavior.
“What I am hoping that they took away from it is individual ownership of the issue,” Pettingill said. “There is space and there’s need for [men] to be involved in these dialogues, because it is men that teach other men about being a man.”
Panelists stressed the importance of verbal consent.
“It’s voluntary, it’s enthusiastic and it’s verbal,” Thorne explained to the audience.
One In Four USA estimates a quarter of college women report surviving rape or attempted rape at some point in their lifetimes.
Cox acknowledged stereotypes that surround fraternities and hoped the prevention effort would make a difference. The fraternity’s efforts are expected to be featured on an upcoming episode of the "Dr. Phil Show."
“If we’re able to start to dispel some of those negative stereotypes associated with fraternity life, then I think again we’re doing a service to our community and to our society and using our social organization to promote positive values,” Cox said.
