Students are heard at "U Matter"

About 70 students participated in the "U Matter" forum Monday evening to address sexual assault at the University of Montana.

Students sat at separate tables and individually addressed five questions. The questions were geared toward shaping the students' perspective on the definition, causes, consequences and prevention of sexual violence. Tables were designated to be all male, all female, both and gender queer/transgender to accommodate all comfort levels.

ASUM President Jenifer Gursky was passionate about hosting a student forum.

"In order to reach long-lasting results we must engage student input," she said.

Gursky and a number of organizations including the Student Assault Resource Center, the Woman's Resource Center, National Coalition Building Institute, Curry Health Center, the University Center and Student Affairs have been planning this forum since the first week of the semester.

"We didn't want to have a forum for forum's sake," Gursky said. "We wanted to be sure all the elements were there for students to have a voice and feel safe."

SARC representatives were at the forum to assist students who were particularly affected by the nature of the discussions. NCBI members facilitated each table's discussion to ensure the conversation remained respectful. All but three ASUM members volunteered their time to work as transcribers to record each student's input on large flip boards. Each table's answers will be typed into a report and shared at the student forum on Feb. 22.

Senior Christa Timmerman came to the forum to hear the opinions of her fellow peers and give her insight.

"This opened the floodgates to conversation," Timmerman said, "even if it comes out of a bad situation."

The improvement Timmerman said she wishes to see is more training and involvement of faculty. She said it is common for students to confide in teachers, and she has met some staff members who have not heard of SARC, the student resource on campus for survivors of sexual violence and their families.

After each table's discussion, NCBI's executive director Amie Thurber united the groups to share some of their answers. Each question proved to have a variety of answers — from small-scale ideas to broad- scope comments.

Students agreed most on how we, as a university, can better respond to sexual violence. Many groups called for more transparency from the University.

"Don't act like it didn't happen," wrote one student.

UM President Royce Engstrom was present for an introductory message before the table discussions proceeded. He stressed the value of hosting an open dialogue about sexual assault on campus.

"It is critically important we tell our thoughts on this matter and how we can move forward," Engstrom said.

linds.sanders@umontana.edu