When freshman UO student Zarina Rogers showed up to a required seminar on sexual assault, called Get Explicit 101, it was the first week on campus and she was dreading spending time in a workshop.
But once the program started, she eventually warmed up to it. She said she was “pleasantly surprised” by the authenticity from its student facilitators.
Rogers was one of the 3,949 incoming freshman students to take the workshops, which addresses the topics of healthy sexuality, boundaries, explicit communication, consent, sexual assault and bystander intervention through interactive discussion, according to the UO’s Office of the Dean of Students page.
This year, reported rapes have more than doubled on campus. Administrators say that’s because more students are reporting them due to better resources.
Rogers said that students should take the program, which started fall 2015, seriously.
“It’s important,” she said.
Kerry Frazee, the director of Prevention Services at UO, was part of the team that initially developed and currently implements the program.
“When we were given the opportunity to expand our prevention efforts, we worked with students, faculty, and staff across campus to create a program specifically designed for first-year students at the University of Oregon,” Frazee said.
Frazee added that she hoped that through the program students would have the same foundational knowledge about sexual violence to contribute to a campus culture that doesn’t tolerate any act of gender-based discrimination.
Some students interviewed compared the interactive seminar to an online prevention course required of all new incoming UO students, but some preferring the former.
“I didn’t particularly find the [online] exercises to be that useful because I was just doing it on my own,” said sophomore Connor Lane. “It didn’t feel like I was part of the UO community supporting other UO students. It felt like I was just trying to click the things as quickly as I could to get through and be able to go on with my life.”
Some of the students at the program said that Get Explicit had a higher level of student engagement.
“You have to be more engaged with Get Explicit than you could be in the online class,” said freshman Megan Gray. “And the online one seemed to have a lot of extra stuff that you didn’t really have to pay attention to, so you start ignoring all of it.”
There were few exceptions to Get Explicit’s mandatory attendance policy. The UO made accommodations to reschedule sessions for students honoring Yom Kippur on Saturday sessions and students attending the Center for Multicultural Academic Excellence New Student Fall Retreat. Students were also told that wanting to attend or watch the football game against the University of California, Berkeley on Sept. 30 did not count as a valid exemption.
“I was curious to see how much would be informative and how much of it would be a statement that the university takes sexual assault seriously,” said sophomore Guthrie Stafford, in regards to his thoughts on the program before he participated in the workshop in his freshman year.
Other students also expressed concerns that the Get Explicit program was orchestrated by the University of Oregon less in the interest of its student body and more for its “branding efforts,” making a half-hearted gesture to show its support for ending sexual violence on campus.
“I do feel that they are posturing a bit,” said sophomore Connor Lane. “But I do think that there is genuinely good intention behind it.”
However, in general, the students interviewed agreed that the overall experience was a positive one.
Frazee also added that the UO was currently researching the effectiveness and efficacy of Get Explicit, and if proven effective, were hoping to expand the curriculum to build on the foundational learning targets introduced.
Some students also praised the broad range of subjects that the workshop covered. The interactive workshop included a self-assessment on sexual boundaries in relationships, intended for use with one’s partner.
Rogers stated that the program not just being focused on consent and sexual violence, but also on healthy sexuality and bystander intervention, was critical to the program’s success. “It makes the conversation more approachable because it’s less awkward. But if everyone’s doing that thing, it makes it even less awkward.”