Dear Editor,
People generally don’t like being required to do things they haven’t signed up for. That’s no surprise to any of us. I’ll admit, when I first received the email about the required “Every Choice” training, I wasn’t excited about it. However, after completing the training, I felt empowered to take a stand on issues of bystander intervention, stalking, and more. After all, as the training showed us, most of us don’t intervene because we ‘aren’t sure how to respond.’ Not knowing how to respond isn’t a valid excuse for non-action.
When reading the “Word on the Street,” I realized that many students may not have gotten the point of the training. Yes, it DID need to be campus wide because all of us (regardless of if we admit it publicly or not) are affected by issues of sexual harassment or assault. If you think you aren’t affected – then honestly, you haven’t been listening enough. Sexual assault, harassment, and stalking are NOT matters of the heart. They require having the knowledge and skills to handle these situations WHEN, not IF, they come up. Training DOES matter – it empowered me and I am confident that it empowered others as well. The “Every Choice” training was an hour of your life that may save a life one day – maybe your own, possibly a friend’s life, perchance a stranger’s life. And remember: we won’t be in this Houghton Bubble forever.
Lauren Bechtel ‘16
