Graduate Student Senate discussed plans for several sexual assault prevention events at the first meeting of the year last night.
Thomas Raabe of the Women’s Center gave a brief presentation on the upcoming Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event.
The event, in its fourth year at OU, will take place at noon Oct. 1. It will last one hour and will be followed by a pregame event for the 2 p.m. football game.
Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, which challenges men to walk along Court Street in high heels “is a fun way for men to get involved and get the community talking about a serious issue,” Raabe said, adding that the event’s goal is to help prevent rape, sexual assault and violence towards women, .
“You get the whole spectrum of diverse groups on campus coming to the event to show their support for women,” he said.
All proceeds from the event will go to My Sister’s Place, a local shelter for women.
Although shoes have accrued over the past three years, the Women’s Center is still trying to collect more for the event.
“I’m expecting anywhere from 250 to 400 people,” Raabe said.
There will be a training session called “Men Can Stop Rape” with Alex Leslie of the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center Sept. 29-30.
“It’s geared towards students, faculty, staff and professors on campus,” said Maria Behnke, women’s affairs commissioner, who is promoting the event.
Behnke created a Facebook event to help promote the Men Can Stop Rape event, along with flyers on campus and a fundraising event.
“I hope a lot of men on campus come out and support this issue, since a college campus is an important environment to try and get everyone involved,” she said.
Behnke’s main goal is to help raise awareness of gender violence, she said.
During the first week of October, GSS will help plan for a panel on transgendered issues called “Breaking Down Barriers: exploring transgender needs in higher education” Behnke said.
The panel will take place at 7 p.m. Oct. 4 in the Scripps Hall.
“We will be targeting GAs, TAs and anyone working in higher education to understand transgender,” Behnke said.
GSS is also assisting with a Mini Farmers Market that will be held between University Apartments and Clippinger Laboratories Sept. 23 and promotion of the newly-approved free anonymous HIV testing at Campus Care, President Tracy Kelly said.
Kelly said she plans to take a very active approach this year.
“We’ve been extremely effective in platform goals in the past, so we are introducing a more social dynamic since we want our members to get a good understanding of what we do,” she said.
The only resolution passed officially adopted the new members to GSS.
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