By Brad Ramsay
Staff Writer

Grants for sexual assault prevention programs will soon be available to Indiana colleges.

The Indiana Campus Sexual Assault Prevention Project, which offers grants every year, is the college edition to Communities Against Rape initiative. They both receive their funding from the Indiana State Department of Health.

Nancy Maylath, director of the Purdue Student Wellness Center and director of the Indiana Campus Sexual Assault Prevention Project, said, "We offer funding to any college campus across the state of Indiana.

The grant money, which has been dispersed since the summer of 1997, is typically divided among several organizations.

Maylath said, "In the past we have given the grants to counseling centers, university police departments and health centers."

Most recently the funding has been towards campuses to start new student programs. Maylath added that, "New students are the most vulnerable groups for sexual assault."

Bill Rose, projects coordinator for the Indiana Campus Sexual Assault Prevention Project said, "Part of the reason new students are so vulnerable is that they are new to campus, young, naïve and don’t know any better. Many times men will prey on freshmen women."

Maylath said, "The mission of our group is to reduce sexual assault and rape on college campuses in Indiana."

Rose said part of the problem can be solved by teaching people to be more careful when they are around alcohol. When some women are at parties there are status issues and sometimes they put themselves in dangerous positions.

Rose said, "Many women need to learn more about how to protect themselves and men need to understand that no means no." He said, many campuses, including Purdue, have escort services to aid in preventing attacks.

Although, many times sexual assault is not random. Rose said, "Rape is not always about physical force, but coercion and threats. Women have to understand they have the right to say no."

Rose said that with alcohol and the date rape drug out on campus, women have to use caution wherever they are. Be especially careful when alone in dark places and be choosy about your company.

What the grant money hopes to do is possibly eliminate these scenarios. The recipients of the grant essentially have free reign to what programs they implement.

Maylath said, "Some campuses have speakers, others purchase things like buttons with prevention messages and many buy space in campus newspapers. One campus created a video about sexual assault to show new students."

The Purdue Police Department received the grant last year. Linda Stump, chief of police, said they held a rape aggression defense system school for instructors.

Stump said, "We held it last summer and it was a big success. People from all over came to attend."

Rose said that students need to set up really good limits to prevent sexual assault. It doesn’t matter how far you have gone in the past. Also, women need to look for warning signs when alone with a man at a party: 1. Is he typically aggressive? 2. Does he not take the answer no well? 3. How does he react to alcohol?

For more information on sexual assault, contact Nancy Maylath or Bill Rose at 494-9559. To find out more about the rape aggression defense system school, contact the Purdue Police Department at 494-8221.