The U’s Beta Theta Pi fraternity was awarded a $3,200 grant for raising awareness of sexual assaults on campus.
With this money, the fraternity plans to extend their efforts by speaking with Utah legislators and educating the public about sexual assault misconceptions and how to prevent it. Mitchell Cox, president of Beta Theta Pi and a senior in psychology, said the group wants to expand their work beyond the boundaries of campus and into Salt Lake City.
“Our chapter is looking at the larger issue as a whole to prevention and creating a shift in sexual assault,” Cox said.
The fraternity has worked with the Rape Recovery Center for more than a year and raised about $10,000 in donations during that time. Cox said they also help plan the center’s annual gala.
Holly Mullen, executive director of the Rape Recovery Center in Salt Lake City, said sexual assaults exist throughout the community.
“It’s a problem everywhere, not only within the fraternities and sororities on campus,” she said.
Sexual assault expands beyond rape into other non-consensual acts. According to Not Alone, a government website seeking to prevent sex crimes, one in three women over the age of 18 will be sexually assaulted, but just one in ten cases is reported to the police.
The Rape Recovery Center works with communities, particularly junior high and high schools, teaching students about the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships.
“We want to build a society [where] people have a healthy vision of sex,” Mullen said.
Julie Henry, a senior in urban ecology, was surprised to hear about the partnership between the fraternity and the Rape Recovery Center.
“It improves my opinion of fraternities as a whole that they’re doing outreach and charity work within the U’s community,” Henry said.
Beta Theta Pi and the Rape Recovery Center are holding an information session on Thursday at 3 p.m. in the Spencer Fox Eccles Business Building.
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