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After first-year orientation shaken by pandemic, class of 2024 receives communication and consent training
Philippe Mousavizadeh & Liana Schmitter-Emerson
Journalist & Contributor
Zoe Berg, Photo Editor
This week, the Communication and Consent Educator program launched its in-person “Myth of Miscommunication” program for third semester students. While students typically attend the workshop during the first-year orientation, some attend the training a year late due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The workshop program focuses on the relationship between communication and sexual assault and seeks to ‘demystify[k] the “myth that sexual assault can happen as a result of confusion or misunderstanding”. The workshop also focuses on the relationship between alcohol and other substances and sexual assault. The program was written by the CCE office, which is headed by Associate Dean of Student Affairs Janay Garrett, and the Student Affairs Fellows.
“Hope [of the training] is that students will better understand that sexual assault is not caused by miscommunication, but rather by disrespect and contempt, ”CCE Elliot Sawyer-Kaplan ’23 told The News.
The CCE program, which employs a number of students at each residential college, conducts workshops and training with the goal of creating a healthier sexual climate on campus. Program officials are undergraduates through the classroom years and residential colleges.
Due to the cancellation of many freshman orientation activities in 2020, Class 2024 members are now attending the Consent Workshop for the first time, after more than a year of living on campus.
Garrett did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the impact of the delay.
The CCE website states that the program’s curriculum is grounded in research in psychology and linguistics, and includes scenario-based discussions. During the “Myth of Miscommunication” workshop, students are asked to use an invitation to get frozen yogurt to demonstrate different forms of enthusiastic consent, postponement and refusal, as well as verbal and non-verbal cues. . The workshop then discusses how these interaction models are applicable to everyday situations, including sexual situations.
Although many of the students attending the workshop have already been on campus for a term or more, Sawyer-Kaplan believes their participation is simply “essential.”
“There are a lot of misconceptions coming out of high school,” Sawyer-Kaplan said, “and it’s important that we debunk those myths.”
The workshop aims to facilitate difficult but necessary conversations about how to strive for “the ideal positive sexual encounter,” Sawyer-Kaplan said. Additionally, given that students are so busy with meetings and workshops during “Camp Yale” – Yale’s orientation program for freshmen – Kaplan hopes that the “Myth of Bad communication ”will provide an opportunity for second year students to engage more deeply with the material and the conversations. .
Some students who have touched on consent topics in the past were impressed with the way the workshops were organized. Josephine Cureton ’24 is a community health educator who helped lead the health and sexuality workshops for the early years. Although she is familiar with the content, Cureton says she thinks the CCE workshops were a “really big, deep dive into consent and gray areas, since [the CHE] the curriculum doesn’t really cover it.
But one student had a more mixed experience with the workshop.
Evan Strittmatter ’24, said that while the idea of consent workshops is important for campus life, this particular session could have been better organized.
“The session was poorly executed because they cluttered it with unnecessary information and messy activities trying to get participants involved,” Strittmatter said.
But Sawyer-Kaplan said that while these conversations can be “difficult conversations,” that makes them even more important, especially as members of the Class of 2024 begin to spend more time on campus.
“If someone comes out of these workshops with a few extra tools and skills, then we’ve done our job, and it’s their job to do theirs,” Sawyer-Kaplan said.
The University currently employs 41 CCEs.
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