Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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MARS hopes to educate Northwestern men about rape, assault

The voices speaking out against sexual violence at Northwestern have recently become a bit deeper.

Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault, a student group founded last spring and launching this fall, educates men at the University as to what exactly constitutes sexual assault and reiterates to the larger campus community that the vast majority of men at NU do not, in fact, engage in sexually violent behavior.

MARS, which currently consists of seven men, was founded by Weinberg sophomore Elliott Sweeney, who decided to form the group after a particularly troubling incident in which his female friend was repeatedly hit on by a male student at an off-campus party.

“Nothing happened,” Sweeney said. “But it was just kind of annoying because he was not picking up on any of the hints.”

Working in conjunction with the Northwestern Sexual Health & Assault Peer Educators faculty adviser, Laura Stuart, and with David Shor, a psychologist with Counseling and Psychological Services, Sweeney spent a large part of the last school year tackling the logistical tasks that new student groups need to complete, such as securing faculty advisers and filing for student-group status under the Associated Student Government.

While drafting MARS’ constitution, Sweeney drew from SHAPE’s example as well as MARS chapters across the country, including Miami University of Ohio’s chapter, which was founded by Sweeney’s older brother.

The group’s largest efforts will be spent on the presentations they will make to fraternities, dorms and sports teams, where they will share sexual assault statistics, as well as stories and expertise from activists, survivors and health care workers.

MARS is charting somewhat new territory. Other NU groups that may address issues related to sexual violence, such as College Feminists or SHAPE, usually have mostly female members.

“Men are realizing and saying, ‘This is our issue, too,'” Stuart said.

Although Sweeney plans to have regular conversations with groups like College Feminists and SHAPE ­- coed groups that have traditionally been run by women – he intends to keep MARS a men-only forum.

Sweeney hopes that making the group gender-exclusive will “open up the floor to men who never thought they should be a part of the conversation before.”

“They’ll start thinking about their own ideas and be more comfortable with them,” he said.

MARS has already begun recruitment for this year. They collected more than 30 interested names at the recent student activities fair on Sept. 20, and they plan to begin their campus presentations in the winter.

Sweeney is hopeful that his organization will illustrate the coalition that is working to raise awareness about sexual violence.

“The type of student who goes to Northwestern would be willing to engage themselves thoughtfully and purposefully on this subject,” he said.

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MARS hopes to educate Northwestern men about rape, assault