The Rape Awareness Project is a continuing activity of the Applied Anthropology Class. Spring 2002 will be the third year of our project.  We hope to contribute to campus-wide activities centered on the task of informing more men on campus about rape prevention.  Our project has built continuity as students from the class move into internships supporting our campus and community needs.  Our first year's class successfully offered two different events during the Spring 2000 term, and participated in a number of other campus awareness actions.  The main activity of the course was a two-day conference featuring keynote speaker Marty Langelan.  The Spring 2001 class supported a number of campus activities organized by the UWF Honors Program for Sexual Assault Awareness Week. We also organized a Take Back The Night candle-light vigil and colloquy involving speakers from UWF, PJC, and community organizations like the National Organization for Women, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Rights, and the Young Feminist Alliance.  The class also undertook an ambitious classroom program of reading and critique.  We've posted some of the book reviews here, and hope that others will pursue the works that shaped our involvement this term.

Applied Anthropology is open to any student, regardless of prior anthropology background.  As a senior-level course, the class may not be appropriate for freshman students.  However, some sophomores who are beginning to take major courses may be interested in the class.  If you have questions, call Terry Prewitt at 474-2186. Once again, our goal for the 2001-2002 school year is to get more men involved in rape prevention activities.  We hope to work closely with the Office of Student Affairs, Campus Organizations, the Campus Alcohol and Drug Information Center, and the Counseling Center to link activities and programs.  Watch our web pages for more information.

The first meeting for 2000-2001 community networking was held on Wednesday, August 2, 2000, on the UWF campus.  In addition to students from Spring 2000 applied anthropology class project, the meeting was attended by representatives from the Advising Center, Baptist Hospital Rape Crisis Center, Center for Learning through Organized Volunteer Efforts, National Organization for Women, Pensacola Junior College, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Tallahassee Planned Parenthood, Women Against Rape and Violence, the UWF Women's Studies Program, and Pensacola High School's Young Feminist Alliance.

The group discussed some of the many ways individuals and institutions are working against sexual assault in the Florida panhandle, and began to explore ways we can cooperate in bring a strong, multi-event, community awareness program to the western counties of Florida during the coming year.  The applied anthropology class hopes to coordinate a series of events in April, 2001.

Ms. Katie Koestner and Mr. Brett Sokolow presented a program for students on Sunday, October 8th, 2000, 8:00 pm, at the UWF Conference Center.  The program, entitled "He Said-- She Said," took a down-to-earth approach to the complicated issue of college date rape, and drew over 500 students, faculty, and public participants.  As part of the Fall information program for new and returning students sponsored by Student Affairs, this rape awareness program was the most successful event on the subject of rape over the past two years.  The Intrafraternity Council, the Panhellenic Association, the Residence Hall Association, and several other student groups are to be commended for helping to make this event a success.

Ms. Koestner spoke of her first-semester-freshman experiences, motivations, expectations, and decisions, all of which led her to the powerful event that changed everything in her life.  The candor of her presentation created a great deal of understanding of exactly how difficult it is to judge situations, people, and unfolding events.  Mr. Sokolow, a higher education attorney who specializes in sexual assualt issues, presented the elements of a very difficult sexual assault case drawn from another college campus.  His presentation was followed with questions from the audience, and a "jury vote" from the audience which demonstrated further how difficult the issues behind date rape can be, and how life changing for everyone involved.  Although the audience split on whether the case represented a "sexual assault", in the real case the result was a unanimous guilty verdict resulting in a 2 year jail term. Click on the link above for more information about Katie Koestner and the "He Said, She Said" program.
 

This page last updated on 12 December, 2001