EASA Proctors Winter Health Classes
Exonians Against Sexual Assault (EASA) concluded a new two-week initiative proctoring prep and lower health class discussions about healthy relationships last Monday.
EASA formed in 2016 in light of sexual misconduct allegations surfacing both at the Academy and worldwide. According to senior Jane Collins, one of four EASA co-heads, the club has since taken on a more educational role. “Instead of being reactionary, we are focusing on targeting younger ages and promoting healthy behaviors,” she said.
Senior and EASA co-head Grace Carroll elaborated on EASA’s goals to become more involved with the school curriculum and help students prevent unhealthy relationships before they happen. “Part of the idea of going into health classes is that EASA is now really focused on being proactive and not reactive,” Carroll said.
In these classes, EASA members taught students how to recognize the differences between healthy and unhealthy relationships, emphasizing that unhealthy behavior is not simply restricted to physical abuse. “We talk about the frequency versus recognition spectrum [in the context of verbal and physical abuse],” Collins said, giving an example of a student saying, “Because I love you, we should skip class.”
“That does not seem that bad, but in reality that is how it starts and it can grow to something worse,” Collins emphasized.
Senior Shaan Bhandarkar, an EASA co-head, offered another example—catcalling. “There are occurrences of sexual violence, like catcalling, that are recognized as less intense acts or are low recognition, yet happen very frequently,” Bhandarkar said.
Collins explained that relationships can be a fraught topic of class discussion for many Exonians. “It is a hard and touchy subject and a lot of guys feel like they are being left out of a conversation or being talked at. That affects every single person on our campus [and] is something I really wanted to change,” Collins said.
EASA members urged students to write down other signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships before showing a video about the definitions of an unhealthy relationship. “For preps, for whom the idea of relationships is becoming much more relevant now, an increased perceptiveness around these discussions is critical,” Bhandarkar said.
Collins explained that relationships can be a fraught topic of class discussion for many Exonians. “It is a hard and touchy subject, and a lot of guys feel like they are being left out of a conversation or being talked at. That affects every single person on our campus [and] is something I really wanted to change,” Collins said.
EASA began this initiative believing that students could foster a more effective learning environment for their peers on this sensitive subject than the faculty or administration. “We feel like when the administration goes about these things, there is a disconnect between what we feel like is going on versus what they do,” Collins continued.
Health and human development department head and instructor in health, Michelle Soucy expresses a similar understanding to Collins, in which these classes being taught by peers allows for the topic to remain current. “Anytime you hear a peer talk about important issues, something sticks right” she said. “At the very least, students will be aware that other students care about these issues and are willing to talk about them.”
Bhandarkar hoped that teaching students to recognize all types of sexual assault would allow them to feel more confident in intervening as upstanders. “If we normalize this act of intervention in low recognition events, we can use that as a lead into encouraging more intervention by active bystanders for high recognition events like rape,” he said.
Carroll agreed and elaborated, “I really want students to start being able to see warning signs of unhealthy or aggressive behavior early on before they escalate into something that is violent and unsafe.”
While underclassmen appreciated EASA’s efforts to promote dialogue, some observed that not every student was engaged. “People were willing to speak, but it was still a relatively quiet conversation,” prep Coco Lipe said, describing her class atmosphere as somewhat underwhelming.
Lower Valentina Rogers attributed this silence to students being too respectful and hesitant when it came to sharing their ideas on a “touchy” subject.
Nonetheless, Lipe expressed that the classes had helped her better understand the tell-tale signs of unhealthy relationships, especially in the high school environment. “The presentation…brought awareness to some of the pros and cons of relationships on campus,” she said.
Prep Bona Yoo agreed, saying she had learned “how easy it was to overlook an abusive relationship.”
Prep Shalom Headly noted, “A lot of times, you get the generic bad relationship, and are just told ‘avoid this!’ But the class helped [clarify] that it is not always clear that these relationships are unhealthy.” Headly also voiced his appreciation that the class offered a variety of models for healthy relationships.
While the health classes did not leave a big impression on lower Zoe Barron, she emphasized that this initiative should continue. “[The class] did not have a big effect on me personally… However, I agree that it’s important to keep the information circulating so that people remember [healthy relationships are] always relevant,” Barron said.
EASA plans to continue and expand on these proactive measures, beginning with a “consent-fest” in spring term, where members will set up booths to educate the campus about sexual assault.