Author: Emma Lodes
Twenty-seven clubs have been removed from the Office of Student Life (OSL)’s list of recognized student organizations this semester due to missed training sessions on sexual assault and hazing awareness. These clubs are also not able to request funding from Associated Students of Occidental College (ASOC).
Out of the 27 clubs that are no longer recognized by OSL, very few have signed up for a make-up training session scheduled by Assistant Director of Student Organizations Justin Gerboc and Director of Student Life Tamara Rice for tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 31. The session will be conducted from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Fowler 202.
The training sessions are broken into three sections. First, Nadia Palacios from Project S.A.F.E. delivers a presentation on sexual assault awareness and prevention. Then Riceproceeds to discuss hazing and recognition. For the last section, Gerboc presents updated policies and resources for club leaders and members such as poster and food policies.
According to Gerboc, the idea of the training session is for club leaders to disseminate information on sexual assault, hazing and other policies to their members and to equip leaders with the ability to treat theirfellow members with sensitivity and respect. Clubs that skip the training session are taken off of the official OSL website’s list of active organizations. Vagina Monologues, Well Fed and Fantastiprov, along with 24 other student organizations, are no longer recognized by OSL.
“Basically what happens is at the beginning of the year, I put any of the clubs that submit their paperwork on the website because the first-years want to know what clubs Oxy has, making the assumption in good faith that cubs will attend training,” Gerboc said. “When clubs don’t show up, I take them off the website.”
The former leader of the rock climbing club is currently abroad, and while the club did not officially change leadership, current club leaders were not informed of the training sessions and were consequently unaware that they are no longer officially recognized under OSL.
“I was entirely unaware of this process,” Rock Climbing Club co-president John Beesley (international student) said. “I would greatly appreciate any funding help from ASOC.”
Students involved in multiple on-campus activities often attend these mandatory training sessions several times,representingthe various activities they are involved in. These training sessions are mandatory for student organizations, orientation, new members of greek organizations, Residential Assistants (RAs) and athletes.
Gerboc is aware of the potential repetition of training sessions. A similar training session, the online course “Think About It,” is also mandatory for all students.
“Our ultimate goal is that the campus culture around sexual assault and hazing is safe, and that the information gets into as many hands as possible,” Gerboc said. “Our problem is that some of our more involved students get it more than once. The repetition happens for a segment of the population as we continue finding ways to get it out to everyone.”
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