For the first time since its creation, the Sexual Assault Resource Center is now staffed regularly on weekdays. Nine students have been staffing the center, located in the Sarah Doyle Women's Center, since earlier this month.
Most of the students who staff the center are members of the Sexual Assault Task Force and the Coalition Against Relationship Abuse.
Organizers said some students have been coming to the center since staffing began, but they hope even more will take advantage of the service.
Though the center itself has existed for almost two years, the move to staff it is an attempt to "make it take off" and encourage more students to take advantage of its resources, said Madeline Ray '10, one of the staffers.
Brown has "been behind in having an open discourse" about sexual assault and in providing resources that are "available and that people know about," she said.
The Sexual Assault Task Force, which initiated the move to staff the center, was originally formed by a group of students at Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design which got together "in response to the inadequacy of sexual assault resources" at the schools, according to the group's mission statement.
After getting permission from the Sarah Doyle Women's Center to use a room on the second floor, the group opened the center in 2007, but it has been little-known and little-used since then, Ray said.
"It's been here for almost two years, but it wasn't really functioning," she said.
Since April 6, the students have been taking shifts staffing the center 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. The debut of staffing at the center has been billed as a part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, but organizers said they hoped regular staffing would continue beyond the end of the month.
The student staffers "answer questions about sexual assault, give background resources on campus" and create a "central, safe, neutral space for people to find information for themselves and their friends," said Catherine McCarthy '11, another student who staffs the center.
All of the student staffers completed a two-hour training session with Trish Glover, the University's sexual assault response and prevention program coordinator. The training included information about the dynamics of sexual assault and ways to help victims, Glover said.
Though she and other students who staff the center are "not extensively trained and professional," Ray said, they "can give our knowledge and support, and are willing to listen."
"The most important thing is we be here," she said.
Daniela Rodriguez DS '10, who coordinates the Coalition Against Relationship Abuse and also staffs the center, agreed. "We know resources and how to deal with situations," she said.
Organizers said they think students could take better advantage of the center. "Regardless of how willing we're to help, it's difficult to get people to come in to talk to us," McCarthy said.
"It's a challenge for peer support programs," Glover said, "because (sexual assault) is truly private on a small campus."
"It's important to promote the space as private, confidential and safe," she said.
Making peer support available is "really important for people who are sexually assaulted," Glover added, "because they often tell their friends, and it will be very helpful for their peers to know what to do, what to say and know the resources."
But in addition to serving the larger community, the center is also a "good point of encounter," Rodriguez DS said. It "brings together people who have similar interests in work against sexual violence," she added.
