Beginning next fall, the Interfraternity Council will begin educating members to become peer educators in sexual assault prevention, masculinity, gender roles and other issues that young men in today’s society face.
IFC President Alex Dyer said the program is in response to “a growing trend, not just in our community here at the University of Missouri, but across the country in general. We decided it was important for the Interfraternity Council to be proactive and take a strong stance against sexual assault.”
Applications went out to all 31 fraternity chapters in September, said Creighton Hayes, outgoing IFC vice president of risk management. Nineteen interested members applied; they represent 10 of the IFC member fraternity chapters.
“Ultimately, we would like to see at least one member from every member chapter of the Interfraternity Council become an IFC Peer Educator,” Dyer said.
Hesitation from other chapters could be because of the newness of the program, Hayes said. However, he said he is still pleased with it.
“(IFC is) very adamant and very positive the program is going to work, so we are pretty excited to have those 19 guys help us with it,” he said.
The 19 men will be eligible to participate in the program after grade and conduct checks, which Hayes said should be passed easily, but that everyone who applied ultimately had the intentions they were looking for.
Danica Wolf, coordinator of the Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center, is working with Dyer and Hayes to develop the course curriculum. Members will take a course similar to the one offered at the RSVP Center.
RSVP Center graduate assistant Timothy Maness said the center offers a three-hour course that anyone can take either for or for not credit.
The course focuses on presentation skills, Maness said, to educate students on how to speak with sensitivity on the topics of domestic violence and sexual assault.
RSVP peer educators are then able to go out and give “multiple presentations that have already been written, and they’ll tailor those presentations to whatever demographics they are trying to serve,” Maness said.
IFC peer educators will learn the skills necessary to present and have open dialogue with chapters, pledge classes, executive boards or whatever subsectors of the IFC community want those presentations, Hayes said.
Wolf will meet with the participants in two meetings this semester, Hayes said. She will have final say in who can participate, and be directly involved with what they participants want to cover in the program.
“The overall goal of this program is put an end to the threat of sexual violence and assault in our community,” Dyer said.
The program will emphasize the importance of bystander intervention, illustrate the role of alcohol, drugs and consent and educate the men on masculinity and gender roles.
“We hope to educate these young men on what sexual assault is and what it looks like from as many perspectives as possible,” Dyer said.
The program will help participants see these issues as a men’s issue over a woman’s issue, and make men more accountable for their actions and promote self-awareness, Hayes said.
This new program is IFC’s most expensive, Hayes said, with a budget of $22,000. Numbers for the program were not as high as expected, however, so all of the budgeted allocations will likely not be used.
The course is a credit-hour course, just like any other course at the university. Therefore, IFC will use the budgeted money to pay for the class in order to “alleviate that financial burden, if that would have been a barrier to someone participating.” Hayes said.
IFC plans for this program to continue, and peer-educators will be able to train others to take the same job, Hayes said.
The program will be passed into the hands of the new IFC president, Jason Blincow and vice president of risk management, Trace Murray.
“Although we are not the only community afflicted by this issue, we as the representatives of the Interfraternity Council believe that it is our duty to work towards making our community as safe for everyone as possible,” Dyer said.