After a semester full of conversations addressing the sexism at Ohio University, officials are trying to move conversation in a positive direction to spark change on campus.
Campus Conversation: Sexual Assault, Consent, Bystander Intervention will be held Thursday afternoon from noon to 4 p.m. in the new Nelson Commons main reception.
The university event will allow students and administrators to come together to create solutions for the sexist problems OU has recently faced.
The event will be “free flowing,” said Jenny Hall-Jones, dean of students.
Tables will each feature a topic where event-goers will sit and discuss themes such as sexual assault, consent, bystander intervention, university policy and community outreach.
“It allows students, faculty and staff to vent, to ask questions, to hear from each other,” said Delfin Bautista, director of the LGBT Center. “(We’re) figuring out the best change and not just (something that’s abstract).”
The event is a result of many events that have happened over the semester, including the alleged Court Street rape, Hall-Jones said.
Friday, a group of 25 to 30 administrators met to decide how to respond, Hall-Jones said.
The administrators in attendance decided they needed to do an event that would bring people together to talk through some of these problems, Hall-Jones said.
“The thing that was decided Friday was that it really should happen before Halloween and that we wanted to have this conversation before really one of our most high risk weekends,” she said.
The event was planned in less than a week, but was something some administrators feel is long overdue.
“This is a conversation the campus has needed to have for a while and the opportunity arose and we ran with it,” said Susanne Dietzel, director of the Women’s Center.
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@MariaDeVito13
