Sr. Trevor Morin is one of two new healthy masculinity and relationships student assistants. At Elon University, she is dedicated to teaching and expanding consent, healthy masculinity, and gender-based violence education.

A joint position with the Gender and LGBTQIA Center and the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Program, the role was created in the Fall 2022 semester to support GLC’s goal of marketing its training and education to more male-identifying students on campus. along the

“It’s partly our responsibility, but also open up to the people we’re trying to present, and the masculine people and men, to get them interested in what we’re trying to say. I think it’s also important,” Morin said.

Junior Oli McGowan, Manager of the Learning Coalition for Empowerment and Anti-Violence Resources at Elon University, who uses his/their pronouns, only ensures that communication with students is open and free. emphasized the importance of engaging everyone at their own pace, but also the faculty on campus.

In McGowan’s own experience, sexual assault statistically affects women more than men, so female-identifying friends say they are keen participants in conversations about consent.

“Most of my friends who identify as male are open to conversation but not very excited. I have some guy friends who are like, ‘No, definitely not.'” said McGowan. “We also found it difficult to create this program and get meaningful engagement from fraternity groups and the like, because the term ‘healthy masculinity’ sounds a bit scary.”

Becca Bishopric Patterson, Associate Director of GLC, said she believes engaging peer educators is the best way to start the much-needed progressive conversations. According to Bishopric Patterson, the GLC has already had several presentation requests from Elon’s Panhellenic Association and the national team’s athletic program.

The process is slow and sometimes frustrating, but Bishops Patterson and McGowan emphasize the need to gradually build relationships with communities to open the door to communication and understanding.

This is also what Morin, who is synonymous with his/them, focuses on in his new position.

“A lot of what we try to do is lay the groundwork and build relationships with organizations,” says Molin. “What I really want to do in this role is be able to meet one-on-one with certain people from athletics, fraternal life, a cappella, and other social organizations … talk to their leadership and see what people actually do. It’s about being able to better understand what people are thinking about. They hear things like healthy masculinity.”

Molin, McGowan, and Bishopric Patterson felt that male students and faculty should recognize their privilege and use their position to create an environment in which everyone felt safe. said there is.

“White, cis, and het men on campus have a tremendous responsibility to contribute to the campus environment,” McGowan said. “With the privilege of being a man comes a responsibility to ensure an environment that is safe for all and not conducive to toxicity or aggression.”

According to junior Madeleine Hollenbeck, a member of the Alamance Youth Connected Project and peer educator for GLC, which is part of CLEAR, GLC first identified groups that would respond well to training such as Gender and Sexuality Living Learning. I am targeting. Professors who are strong allies in communities, classes within women’s studies, minors in gender and sexuality studies, and the GLC.

Once the GLC has a foothold for these groups on campus, Hollenbeck said it will focus on Greek life, athletics and the Elon 1010 class.

“Educate those who need it, not those who just agree with us,” said Hollenbeck. “I want to be able to reach people who don’t share my opinions and values ​​and give them another perspective.”

As a woman, Hollenbeck also feels it is important to include men on campus in conversations and educational efforts in order to shape an environment and culture that promotes safety and understanding. One example where still has room for improvement is catcalling.

“It’s frustrating because yelling back at them can be more hostile and lead to worse things than just ignoring them and walking on,” said Hollenbeck. I don’t know how to dismantle such a culture that surrounds me, and I think it should be easier in a female-dominated population like the one we have here. They shouldn’t be responsible for changing.They need to.They need to do the work.”

Although there is some mandatory training, including online consent education that all Elon freshmen must complete, Hollenbeck is hesitant to implement more compulsory education opportunities. This is mainly because they feel that most men are not actively engaged in changing the culture.

“I think it should be mandatory, but I think if it’s something that you have to force yourself to go through, you might not be able to absorb the information,” says Hollenbeck. “When they are so reluctant and often about consent education, it doesn’t really serve the culture. It could become.”

Bishop Patterson also wants to be clear that most men don’t commit sexual violence, but feels the passive majority need to be educated and involved.

“I mean there are a lot of other men … who are not committing violence and who are actually holding other men accountable, talking about consent, supporting survivors, talking about equality, Respect and how you use your privilege for good,” Bishop Rick Patterson said. “I think that’s what we really want to focus on.”

While there is always room for improvement, Bishopric Patterson, Hollenbeck, and McGowan feel Elon has many quality resources in the areas of consent education and sexual violence. A primary focus for the 2022-23 school year is to make these resources more visible to the rest of campus.

“There’s always room for improvement, but I think we have the right people doing the right things to make sure students have the resources and education,” McGowan said.

By contacting GLC or submitting a request form on Phoenix Connect, people and organizations in the Elon community can request training presentations by trained students on topics such as consent education and gender-based violence.

Students and faculty are welcome to enter the GLC, located on the 209th floor of the Moseley Room on the 209th floor, on weekdays from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. You can also email GLC@elon.edu or follow our social media page @elonglc on Instagram. @ElonGLC on Facebook.

Bishopric Patterson and AK Krauss, Associate Director of GLC for Violence Response, also act as top-secret reporters who want students to speak privately and seek guidance on their experiences of sexual violence. In that case, there is no obligation to report to the university. Bishopric Patterson is at the GLC and Krauss is on his second floor in Room 213 of the Koury Athletic Center.

Students can also call the SafeLine number on the back of their Phoenix card. This is a confidential violence response resource.

“The goal is to make sure students feel safe and have resources available if something happens,” McGowan said. “I think education is getting better overall. There is always work to be done.”