Violence and Health Injustice Series: Dismantling Campus Rape Culture

Mar 25 2017 | 10am - 2pm

This year-long series examined the politics and health outcomes of marginalized communities’ experiences with State violence within and beyond the United States. Across three events highlighting the intersections of race and police brutality, refugees and asylum seekers, and campus rape culture, we address the following questions:

What factors combine to structure particular relations with negative health outcomes?
What are the health outcomes broadly defined of State actions like police violence, detention, or deportation?
What combination of political, social, and economic change is needed to positively reconfigure how institutions address marginalized populations?

We invited community members, human rights lawyers, health care professionals, and activists to join together in deliberating issues, networking, and finding potential paths toward better policies and health outcomes.

On Saturday March 25, The Center for Bioethics, along with the Institute for Advanced Study and the department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, hosted a half-day conference to discuss the critical topic of campus rape culture.

At the event, Dismantling Campus Rape Culture, representatives from the Aurora Center, the Office for Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, the Office of Orientation and First Year Programs, and the Gender and Sexuality Center for Queer and Trans Life came together to discuss their respective departments roles and perspectives on campus rape culture, both in response to and prevention of sexual violence on campus. Following the panel of university representatives, student survivors of sexual assault were joined with sexual violence activist Sarah Super and MSA President Abeer Syedah to discuss their experiences and perspectives as students on the UMN campus.

Audience participants added to the dialogue bringing both nuance and reflection through their experiences as students, advocates, and administrators. Following the panel portion of the event, participants attended breakout sessions in which they engaged with the following topics: Bystander Intervention, Trauma-Informed Leadership, and Undoing the Structure of Rape Culture. Attendees were invited to connect with various organizations both on and off campus at the resource fair while also enjoying the ever-delicious Afro-Deli.

The Center for Bioethics looks forward to continuing the conversation around policy advancements to address the issue of rape culture on campus as well as evolving more programming that highlights interdisciplinary ethical issues across campus.

Speaker(s)

At the event representatives from the Aurora Center, the Office for Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, the Office of Orientation and First Year Programs, and the Gender and Sexuality Center for Queer and Trans Life came together to discuss their respective departments roles and perspectives on campus rape culture, both in response to and prevention of sexual violence on campus. Following the panel of university representatives, student survivors of sexual assault were joined with sexual violence activist Sarah Super and MSA President Abeer Syedah to discuss their experiences and perspectives as students on the UMN campus.