The Wake

Men teetered in high-heeled shoes at the beginning of April not only to advent the beginning of spring, but also to honor Sexual Assault Awareness month. The Aurora Center kicked off the month with “Take a Walk in Her Shoes” and passed out information about sexual assault while encouraging students and community members to take a walk down the Washington Avenue Bridge in high heels.

One in four to five women experiences rape or attempted rape while in college, and 90 percent of college rape victims know their attacker, according to the National Institute of Justice. However, less than five percent of these victims will report the assault to police, the same study states.

Numbers like these are what keeps organizations like the U’s Aurora Center determined to make changes. But the Aurora Center’s main goal is not simply to file more police reports. Instead, they want to support survivors of sexual assault in whatever they choose to do—including not reporting the crime if that’s their decision—and attack the problem of sexual violence at its cultural and societal roots. To this end, the center is sponsoring and collaborating on a variety of events in April for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

As an overall mission, “we’re here to empower people and support whatever decisions they make,” says Liz Borer, the legal advocacy and direct services co-coordinator for the center. “Sexual assault is an experience where a victim’s control was taken away from them by force, and an important step to recovery is helping them to regain that control in their lives and make their own decisions.”

Helping victims recover is the focus of the staff and volunteer advocacy aspect of the Aurora Center’s program. The center recruits, trains, and supervises volunteer peer advocates to staff a 24-hour crisis line. All advocates have gone through extensive training and been certified by the state of Minnesota as sexual violence counselors. They are able to provide some counsel to victims who need to have their options outlined or, at the very least, an ear to listen. “We’re not counselors in the sense of therapists, but we are here for crisis intervention,” Borer says. “We do some aspects of counseling but we really just provide people options for what steps they can take next.”

The center offers telephone or walk-in short-term advocacy services for individuals, including information on legal options. Advocates will accompany a victim to the hospital, sit next to him or her at court, help file a police report, write a restraining order or file complaints with the university. The Aurora Center also provides resources for longer term counseling and support groups.

The other major aspect of the center’s mission examines the difference between preventing sexual assault and reducing the risk of being sexually assaulted. Through educational presentations, advocates seek to educate the community and raise awareness about issues that still frequently seem too “taboo” to be addressed. To prevent sexual assault, the center focuses on the person whose actions define sexual assault—the perpetrator. People can reduce their risk of being sexually assaulted—and thus becoming victims—through a variety of methods, but stopping a perpetrator from assaulting a person is not the responsibility of the potential victim. Sexual assault is not the victim’s fault.

“Sexual assault and relationship violence are the result of a culture that tolerates, supports and reinforces violence and we must change the culture to prevent violence in all forms. The Aurora Center believes that the best way to prevent sexual and relationship violence is to educate people to be respectful toward one another, show support for victims/survivors, and challenge violent behaviors and thus prevent possible perpetrators from committing a violent crime,” according to the center’s Web site.

In order to achieve this goal, Aurora Center advocates provide peer and professional trainings and educational presentations on numerous issues relating to sexual and relationship violence. “In terms of our education program, we look at what’s going on in our culture that we have such high rates of violence against women,” Borer says. “We look at images in the media, particularly in advertising, that reflect this culture of violence and we really encourage men and women to work together as allies to interrupt this culture, to challenge sexist attitudes or sexist behaviors that ultimately lead up to violent actions.” Presentations and trainings for any classes, organizations or departments at the U are free of charge.

“Sexual Assault Awareness Month is kind of a collaboration between these two aspects—advocacy and education—of our program,” Borer says. “This is just an opportunity for us to really get the word out about our program and to try to start the discussion about sexual assault and violence in our community.”

Upcoming events include a conference on the relationship between tourism and child sex trafficking, “United Front for Children,” on April 21 and a portrayal by Pangea World Theater of the experiences of battered immigrant women, “Human Rights at Home,” on April 26. Both of these events will be at the Coffman Memorial Union Theater.

Further information on Sexual Assault Awareness Month, sexual assault statistics, advocacy services, volunteer opportunities at The Aurora Center, and more is available at . The Aurora Center is located on the fourth floor of the Boynton Health Services Building on the East Bank, at 410 Church St. SE. Hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. The number for the 24-hour crisis line is 612-626-9111.