The University of Rhode Island student senate met with assistant director of the URI Bystander Intervention Program URi-STAND, Keith LaBelle, and passed bills acknowledging two clubs as senate recognized organizations.
LaBelle spoke to the senate about the importance of understanding the misconceptions of sexual assault, encouraging members of the student senate to join his class CVS 302: Bystander Intervention Training.
“[Sexual assault] is an uncomfortable topic for people, and I understand, but I think we all need to know exactly what it looks like in your life so we can make a difference,” LaBelle said. “The big myth about sexual violence is that it looks just like it does on TV.”
LaBelle encouraged the senate to get involved in URi-STAND and spread the word about what URI is doing to help support students who are victims of sexual violence.
“I need more diverse people in my class because the more diverse people who are educated on this, the further around campus we can spread our message,” LaBelle said.
LaBelle stressed the importance of understanding the sexual assault and making small attempts to create positive change.
“It’s important to recognize this as an epidemic because it is an epidemic, it’s a real problem, it happens everyday here,” LaBelle said. “Put that sticker on your laptop, put it on your water bottle because you never know who’s going to see it.”
URi-STAND has spoken to the NFL, won multiple national awards and has been studied in groups in Australia, according to LaBelle. To learn more about URi-STAND visit the university’s Bystander Intervention Program website.
After LaBelle’s visit, the student senate passed two bills acknowledging Club Cricket and Hack @ URI as senate-recognized organizations.
The student senate constitutional review committee met for the first time earlier today, where they looked at the current constitution, discussed bylaws and elected Sen. Matthew Cayer, chair of the external affairs committee, as chair of the constitutional review committee.
The next student senate meeting will take place on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Memorial Union Room 300.
