According to a 2020 U Campus Climate Survey, there is declining confidence amongst students in the university’s ability to combat factors of sexual misconduct, take action against an offender, conduct a fair investigation and take the report seriously. 

However, in the same report, students’ knowledge of resources at the U to report and receive assistance after being a victim of sexual assault and misconduct has risen since 2018.

Consensual Conversations is an event hosted by the McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention and the Students United for Reproductive Freedom where conversations about awareness and progress towards combatting sexual assault and misconduct began with discussing what consent is and means for different people.

The event’s facilitators include Isabel Calderon and Matylda Blaszczak, co-presidents of SURF and students at the U, and Lauren Rives, a student staff member at the McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention.

Calderon said that receiving UMail notifications of on-campus sexual assault and personal experience of growing up with Utah’s less-than-comprehensive sexual education system were primary motivations to hold the event.

“I thought this was a really important conversation to have,” Calderon said. “Students on campus may also have a situation where they don’t know if they should say no, or when to say no, or how to say no to these problems.”

The event held on Feb. 13 consisted of a round table discussion of students from all academic backgrounds and identities where questions were anonymously submitted on heart-shaped cards or through an online form and presented to attendees as discussion topics.

Topics such as the differences in consent for queer-identifying students, consent while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, creating and maintaining personal boundaries, sexual scripts and campus culture were discussed. There were also spontaneous discussions on the sources of sexual violence and the different ways attendees expressed either accepting or rejecting consent in their own relationships.

Rives said that sex is often perceived as shameful and, in turn, that obtaining sex through consent can be shameful. 

“We only talk about it in black and white, which is beneficial in some ways,” Rives said. “But that also hides so much of how consent is complicated. There’s not just one size fits all for every single person in the world.”

The McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention focuses on several different aspects of preventing sexual violence. Consent is just one of many facets that student staff at the MCVP focus on. 

According to the U’s 2020 Campus Climate survey, 14% of transgender, genderqueer and nonbinary undergraduate students have experienced sexual assault. Nineteen percent of female undergraduate respondents and 4% of male undergraduates have also experienced sexual assault.

According to the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network, only 20% of college women aged 18-24 nationally report their assaults to law enforcement. Nationally, 13% of all students reported experiencing sexual assault or rape at some point in their college career. 

Students United for Reproductive Freedom focuses on both organizing for complete access to reproductive health and providing education about reproductive health.

Calderon said consent is a part of reproductive education the organization is targeting. Consensual Conversations scratches the surface, Calderon said, and incorporating asexual people is something she would like to do in the future.

“We’re all about the community and what they feel like they need on campus, so for us I think it’d be great to get another series, another event,” Calderon said.

According to Planned Parenthood, consent should be freely given and reversible at any time. Both parties should be completely informed of one another’s actions, enthusiastically given and specific as it relates to a person’s intentions during sex. 

“The entire bend of this conversation is that consent is not black and white,” Rives said. “It’s going to differ depending on people’s identities and circumstances. Once we are able to admit that things aren’t simple, we can start having conversations about why it’s not so simple. Trying to think about consent is hard and recognizing the fact that it’s hard is one of the greatest things we can do to prevent violence.”

If you are a victim of sexual violence, SafeU sexual violence resources are available for free 24 hours a day. 

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This article was updated on Feb. 16, 2023, to clarify that Matylda Blaszczak was another collaborator on the Consensual Conversations event.