Nurses, confidential advisors and campus support groups gathered in the Gavle Rooms on Tuesday, April 21, for the Sexual Assault Awareness Month Community Symposium. With perspectives from prevention advocates, law enforcement, school officials and nurses, students were given full disclosure on what happens and who to go to in the event of abuse.

During the symposium, UnityPoint Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) presented the procedures followed when a patient comes to the hospital, outlining each step of the process. 

Afterward, Family Resources took over and discussed how their community-based program supports students and provides ongoing assistance. 

Pauline P., Augustana’s confidential advisor and the event’s coordinator, said the symposium has been in the works for a year. After looking up information about the Title IX Act online and realizing the AI overview was misinformation, she said she knew an in-person learning day was necessary. 

“Whenever something happens that we don’t necessarily want to talk to our friends about … we Google it. Now that AI is the first search [result], it’s going to be providing a lot of incorrect information. That got my wheels turning,” Pauline said. “It would be really great if we could get back to an old-school learning style where people can get together in a room and discuss issues.”

Pauline started working with Augustana about a year ago through Family Resources. With more than 20 years of experience with direct service, Pauline felt well-equipped to meet students’ needs. 

The world of Title IX campus abuse prevention was new for Pauline. But with strong policies already in place, she said she has simply worked to elevate awareness of existing events and knowledge.

“Augie is a trendsetter. They developed a Coordinated Community Response Team, which specifically looks at prevention on campus, and how easy policies are to find and navigate …  they’ve already started creating the wheel so I don’t have to work on recreating it,” Pauline said. 

Though the first of its kind, Pauline said she hopes Tuesday’s symposium is a recurring event for years to come. 

That same commitment to awareness is also reflected in student-led efforts, such as the Take Back the Night event held on Sunday, April 26, which featured student performances. 

Junior Kayla Essilfie, an event peer educator for the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention Education (OSAPE), has primarily been responsible for coordinating performers for Take Back the Night. Through spoken-word poetry, singing and dancing, these performances conveyed messages of resilience and understanding to survivors. 

“It’s a good thing to gain closure from such an experience, because it not only helps with the healing and moving on, but it also helps with reflecting. For example, when somebody dies, you go through the stages of grief,” Essilfie said. “I think of it like that, going through those stages before the acceptance of it – knowing that it did happen, and it was unfortunate, but you’re strong and powerful enough to move past it.”

In addition to public forms of expression, campus counseling services provide private spaces for disclosure through treatment, counseling and support.

William Iavarone, director of counseling at Augustana, said that many survivors experience cognitive errors, or distorted thoughts, in which they may feel guilt following a traumatic event.

“They often don’t want to share that [survivor’s guilt] with anybody, so [counseling services] can talk through those things. I think it’s a big part, not just of counseling here, but even with the Sexual Assault Symposium and Take Back the Night on Sunday,” Iavarone said. “The more that we, as a college and as a community, can incorporate that idea of relationships, and ‘we believe you’ and ‘it’s a safe place,’ the better that people who have experienced [assault] can heal.” 

Augustana’s counseling services, Campus Ministries, and Family Resources are the three confidential on-campus resources for those seeking support or a safe place to disclose their experiences. 

Pauline P. is on Augustana’s campus on Thursdays in Sorensen 254 and is available to students who have experienced any form of victimization.