If I’m sure of anything, it’s that sexual violence and assault cannot be prevented by coffee sleeves. Unfortunately, our Student Government senators do not realize this; or maybe they were looking for an opportunity to make themselves feel like they were making a difference.
They did make a difference, a difference of about $285.60 from the Student Government Initiatives account. This money will be used to order 3,600 coffee sleeves to be distributed across coffee shops on campus during the month of April, which is celebrated as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
College of Humanities and Social Sciences senator Sarah Perkins told The Daily Reveille, “[the coffee sleeves] will provoke and maybe incite some more dialogue and conversation that’s really important, at times like this on campus, about sexual violence and assault … Everybody drinks coffee. It’s great.”
How could normalizing sexual assault by placing it on such a mundane object help anyone? What kind of dialogue is going to be created? Wait, I can see it now.
“Hey, I have a coffee sleeve just like that.”
“Oh, yeah, it really helps my temperature-sensitive hands.”
“I don’t understand why it says, ‘consent is hot, assault is not.’ What does that even mean?”
“It’s about sexual assault. It’s bad.”
“Oh, wow. I never really gave it that much thought, but yeah, it is bad. Hey, do you think murder might be bad too?”
I have no issue with SG using money to prevent rape or sexual assault. As CJ Carver cited in his article, 11.2 percent of all collegiate students experience rape or sexual assault. However, a coffee sleeve will do nothing to help anyone, except those with a hot cup of joe. The kind of dialogue that SG intends to create — and probably won’t — with coffee sleeves, it’s useless.
If the goal is to incite dialogue, perhaps the dialogue should serve a purpose. A better option would be to use the money to fund the Lighthouse Program, which assists student survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, relationship violence and stalking.
Money could also be used to make Rape Aggression Defense Classes free for students, instead of the $25 it costs now. This is not to say that these courses would prevent students from experiencing sexual assault, considering that approximately 80 to 90 percent of women reporting sexual assaults knew their assailant.
The familiarity with the assailant, along with the emotional toll on the victim, are main reasons that less than five percent of rapes of college women are reported to law enforcement officials. I know rape and sexual assault victims are not just women, but they do make up a larger percentage.
If we are serious about the issue of rape and sexual assault, then we need to address the rape kit backlog problem, increase punishment for those found guilty, make sure everyone understands what consent is, and ensure victims are able to live normal lives.
The University has done a surprisingly good job trying to do everything it can to help. I remember a short educational video during freshman orientation which recreated scenarios where rape was prevented. In the video, rape is prevented because of the realization that consent was not given or the intervention of a bystander. In addition to being educated at orientation, incoming students are required to complete an online course about drugs, alcohol and sexual assault. So hats off to the University for truly being committed to stopping rape and sexual assault.
I wish I could say that the solution to the problem of rape and sexual assault is an easy one, but it’s not. It is a very complex issue, one that cannot be fixed by a simple coffee sleeve.
Matthew Hutchins is a 20-year-old petroleum engineering sophomore from Birmingham, AL.