“Imagine, then do.” That’s the official motto of the University of Utah, brought to life by the Gamma Beta Chapter throughout its now decade-long partnership with the Rape Recovery Center.
It Starts With
Us Utah Betas celebrate 10 years supporting the \ Rape Recovery Center
, by Justin Warren, SMU 10 , designed by Mike Roupas, Iowa 10
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The men’s efforts began modestly in 2013 as they sought a philanthropic cause in the early days of the chapter’s refounding. Alumnus Steve Eror ’03, connected leadership with the local rape awareness and support program where his mother and sister volunteered, giving birth to a productive partnership. Initially, the two groups cooperated to host sexual assault prevention forums on campus. The first year, 50 people attended. By 2015, more than 175 students, campus administrators and clinical professionals were packing into the university’s Spencer Fox Eccles Business Building to discuss sexual assault. Knowing they had captured something special, the chapter’s ambitions grew and their convictions solidified. “It’s incredibly important that men on college campuses are actively involved with the prevention of sexual assault,” said former Chapter President Mitchell Cox ’14. “Men have to be the ones to step up and stop it.” And that’s exactly what Betas at Utah are doing. In the 10 years since their partnership with the Rape Recovery Center formed, the men have continued campus forums, invested thousands of hours to learn bystander intervention and work the center’s 24hour hotline, and made supporting the center financially a cornerstone of their annual philanthropy week. Seen by many as an example of fraternity men overcoming stereotypes, these endeavors have earned the chapter great acclaim, from local newscasts and pieces in the Salt Lake Tribune to national attention on the syndicated
2/6/24 11:39 AM