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Students for Violence Protection hosted an alcohol education fair during National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week
The event took place on Oct. 20 in the Overman Student Center.
“I contacted the community health center, university police, SVP, and violence protection graduate assistant to really showcase the different facets of alcohol: the prevention piece, the response piece, and what happens when they engage in alcohol,” said Stephanie Spitz, campus victim advocate. “So for me, as part of wellness education, I really wanted to touch base on different wellness education efforts addressing alcohol abuse and impaired driving and getting resources out that people may not know about for this event.”
Different groups were invited to the event to showcase the different effects alcohol can have on a person. Each group had their own message about alcohol. SVP offered cards about blood alcohol content, the Good Samaritan Law, and had a game of ‘drunk’ cornhole.
“The idea behind that was for you to play a quick game of cornhole and you realize how hard it is to be in charge of your mind and your body (while drunk),” Spitz said. “Be mindful of your body when you’re drinking. (When drunk) you can’t give consent for sex, you can’t drive safely, you can’t do other things.”
Another point focused on by SVP was alcohol-facilitated sexual assault.
“It is very important to talk about alcohol-facilitated sexual assault because alcohol is the number one date rape drug and, especially being on a campus, (alcohol-facilitated sexual assault is likely to happen,” said Logan Wiley, senior in communication. “We are here to educate and prevent any of that happening.
Graduate assistant Tiffany DeMoss led a slideshow covering how survivors of sexual assault or other traumas can use alcohol as a coping mechanism. The commuity health center also has information for those struggling with alcoholism that provides where they could get help.
“That was the hope: to humanize the experience and be very trauma-informed and respectful of those regardless of wherever they are in their journey with or without alcohol and to give them those resources,” Spitz said.
University Police were also there to talk about the Good Samaritan Law and “Safe Ride.”
“If you run into a situation, call campus police so that they can make sure that you get a safe ride home with ‘Safe Ride’ or, if someone gets hurt, there’s the Good Samaritan law, so you’re protected if you were drinking and something goes wrong and you want to get help for a friend,” Spitz said. “You are protected to make sure that they can get resources. For me, when I have seen bad things happen, I have seen a delay in report, not only here but in our hospital, in terms of people accessing services. I was hoping to get the word out that you wouldn’t have to delay and would feel safe and comfortable enough to reach out to those support services that can provide (help) to them,” said Spitz.
For those interested in joining SVP, more information can be found on Gorilla Engage.