Workshops cover date rape sexual assault

Over 700 fraternity and sorority pledges participated in workshops led by STAAR last month, marking the first time that the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Council have combined to provide such workshops on a large scale. One sorority and two fraternity pledge classes were combined to form groups of 80 to 90 people for each workshop, said Paul Kostyack, an executive board member of Students Together Against Acquaintance Rape. Kostyack, a College senior, described the programs as "introductory first-tier workshops dealing with sexual assault and acquaintance rape, also with discussions on sexual harassment." According to Kostyack and STAAR Executive Board Member Shoshana Schwartz, each of the workshops began with an "icebreaking" exercise where men and women wrote anonymous questions on notecards to each other. Most of the questions were about sexual issues and dating, even though no topic was specified. The questions then led to discussion among the group. "You can discuss things about human sexuality even in a big group," said Kostyack. "They were questions that people wanted to ask, wanted to answer and wanted to talk about . . . We developed the discussions along the lines of those questions." Kostyack also said that the most common questions asked were about sexual assault on campus, sex and the use of alcohol, and the "different expectations between men and women about hooking up at fraternity parties." "There are a lot of things that men and women are unable to communicate with each other about," said Schwartz, a College senior. "No one will ever talk about it but they will write about it." Schwartz added that the questions asked often lead to very serious discussions, ranging in topic from the myths of masturbation to what it feels like for a woman to be raped. Reaction to the workshops was very positive. "I've only heard positive feedback about [the workshops]," said Panhellenic Council President Allison Marinoff, a College junior and Delta Delta Delta sister. "It's a real indication of Panhel and IFC working together to do something positive." "Feedback on our evalutation sheets was very positive," Schwartz said. "I really think that people enjoy asking questions that they've never really been able to ask before." Kostyack said he hopes the entire Greek system will agree to participate in STAAR workshops again next year.