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It’s On Us
THE STUDENTS’ VOICE SINCE 1887
W E D N E S D AY, O C T O B E R 2 6 , 2 0 1 6
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$300,000 grant to help combat sexual assault at USD By Clay Conover
Clay.Conover@coyotes.usd.edu
A recently received $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice will soon help to combat sexual assault with the It’s On Us campaign at USD. The grant money will be used to hire a project coordinator, who will be housed in student services under Kim Grieve, the dean of students and vice president of student services, and will coordinate efforts across dozens of different campus organizations including different offices of USD, student organizations and even community organizations. Assistant professor of criminal justice, Bridget Diamond-Welch,
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who studies victimology of sexual assault, was instrumental in the obtaining the grant. “This is the second university that I’ve been a professor at,” Diamond-Welch said. “At my first university, which was Western Illinois University, we had this grant and I was a part of it there. So, when I came here and started working here, I thought that this place really needed the grant, because we have some good stuff going on, but it needs to be added to.” In 2015, there were three rapes reported on campus, one reported off campus and there were seven forcible sex offenses between 20132015, according to the annual USD Fire Safety & Security Report.
We’re not just addressing sexual assault. One of the big things we are going to be addressing is rape culture. Bridget Diamond-Welch, assistant professor of criminal justice
The grant formalizes a committee called Coyotes Advocate, Respond and Educate or CARE. CARE, which will be directed by the project coordinator, is responsible for the coordination of the involved organizations. “One of the missions of CARE is to grow care, meaning that we are trying to bring more and more different involvement and organizations together,” Diamond-Welch said. “So, anyone who would like to get involved in this work should really contact me. We would love to have anyone involved.” Part of the grant money will be used to pay for programming such as awareness training, Title IX training, bringing in speakers and having panel discussions. Some of the money will also be used to assess the situation at USD. “We’re going to study what we are currently doing on campus, what the issues are on campus and come up with suggestions for how we can change it,” Diamond-Welch said. “We’re going to assess our programs to see if they are effective. We’re going to assess ourselves as a committee.” One way those working on the grant will assess the situa-
Local statistics
BY THE NUMBERS
Six reported cases of on campus sexual assault in four years at USD Source: USD Annual Fire Safety and Security Report
National statistics One in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college More than 90 percent of sexual assault victims on college campuses don’t report the assault Source: National Sexual Violence Resource Center
tion at USD is by doing a campus climate survey. “One of the other things that Board of Regents is looking into, and that is a part of this grant as well is doing a campus climate survey,” Grieve, who was one of the major actors in writing the grant, said. “To really see how students feel the program is going.” CARE will not only be combating sexual assault, which is “any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient” as defined by the Department of Justice, but also what
is known as rape culture. “We’re not just addressing sexual assault. One of the big things we are going to be addressing is rape culture,” Diamond-Welch said. “Rape culture is a term that refers to these attitudes and beliefs that make sexual aggression something that’s acceptable.” Programs will be put in place that will make people question and challenge any behaviors that support rape culture. Another component of the grant is Coyotes See GRANT, Page A3
Local candidates talk policy issues at town hall debate By Devin Martin
Devin.Martin@coyotes.usd.edu
Rachel Newville I The Volante
College Democrat and Republican Presidents Kade Lamberty and Chelsea Gilbertson tabled
in the MUC on Monday to help students register to vote.
Students aim to make voices heard as election day nears By Rachel Newville
Rachel.Newville@coyotes.usd.edu
As election day grows closer, USD political science students are gearing up for the big day and more students are starting to share their views on the topic. When it comes to voter turnout, millennials don’t have the greatest track record. According to the US Census Bureau, “in every presidential election since 1964, young voters between the ages of 18 through 24 have consistently voted at lower rates that all other age groups.” College Democrats and Republicans are hoping to change that. President of College Democrats, Chelsea Gilbertson and President of College Republicans, Kade Lamberty were tabling in the Muenster University Center earlier this week to make sure students were registered to vote. “As you can see here we’re kind of tabling together,” Lamberty said. “Today is the last day for voter registration so that’s one of the main things we’re doing. We also have the absentee ballots.” Both Gilbertson and Lamberty said their groups, which both meet on Mondays at 8 p.m. have been focusing a lot on local elections, while still discussing the presidential election. “At our College Republican meetings we have a lot of people come in that are either candidates or are talking about ballot initiative,” Lamberty said. “So we want to inform as many people about those issues that we can… but we still talk about Trump, people love
talking about Donald Trump, they just love it.” Gilbertson said the College Democrats have also been talking about ballot initiatives. “Basically we’ve been focusing on predominantly the ballot initiatives because there are a ton of them,” Gilbertson said. While the focus has been on local issues, the groups still worry about the outcome of the presidential election. “There’s a lot of (talk on) how did we get to this point. In complete honesty, we’ve talked a lot about how disenfranchised a lot of voters feel,” she said. “Especially since most College Democrats my age were very pro-Bernie and so I’ve been trying to shift that into a bigger conversation on what can we do to change the way future elections will be played out.” Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, announced his candidacy for the Democratic ticket in April of last year and energized young voters with a message of economic change. He was eventually defeated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, despite an email scandal that continues to plague her campaign. Lamberty also said that Trump taking the candidacy is driving people to join their organization. “Actually Donald Trump and kind of the whole mystique around has really drove a kind of membership in College Republicans and that is really what
we talk about if we don’t have guests,” Lamberty said. “That’s what we talk about most of the time, what happened during the primaries what’s happening in the election and kind of what she said, how we got to this point. The most unassumed candidate of all time, Donald Trump got the candidacy.” Donald Trump, who announced his candidacy in June of last year, shocked long-time politicos and analysts alike by beating out a field of more than 10 other Republican candidates to clench his party’s nomination. Since then, he’s made headlines for his comments on women, Muslims, Mexicans and other groups. After a video surfaced earlier this month of Trump making lewd comments about women that he deemed “locker room talk,” some prominent Republicans, such as South Dakota Senator John Thune, have called on the real-estate mogul to withdraw from the race and let his Vice Presidential pick Mike Pence take over the ticket. Political science juniors Anna Madsen and Chesney Garnos said they think it’s a very exciting time to be a political science major but are disappointed with the candidates. “I am really disappointed in both candidates we have to choose from,” Garnos said. “It’s hard because neither candidate has my morals or values. I can’t trust Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. The theatrics are disSee VIEWS, Page A6
Candidates running for the Clay County House and Senate seats were involved in a townhall-style debate on Tuesday. The candidates running for the Democratic House are Mike Winegar and Ray Ring. For the Republican House, Nancy Rasmussen and Debbie Pease. Lastly, for the Senate, Democrat Shane Merill and Republican Arthur Rusch are running. All of the candidates gave opening statements as the debate was beginning. “This election as far as I’m concerned is not about me, it’s about you,” Winegar said. “It’s about the state that you want to have for your children and your grandchildren.” After the opening statements, questions on a HELLWEGE sheet of paper were given to the moderator, Julia Hellwege, a political science professor at USD, from audience members. Those various questions brought the issues of Medicaid, the death penalty and legislative issues that the candidates got a chance to respond to. The candidates were asked what they would do to make sure Medicaid expansion in 2017 to make it possible for all citizens to be ensured. “I have told everyone that questioned me last year and this year that if the issue of Medicaid expansion comes up that I would vote in favor of that. It’s a no brainer,” Rusch said. “If the federal government will undertake the responsi-
bility of medical care for the Native American tribes which they contacted to by treaty (and) we would probably even have some extra money left over.” Merill also agreed that expanding Medicaid is the best option for the state. “I support (expanding it) 100 percent,” Merill said. “We’re going to expand health coverage to 55,000 South Dakotans, 800 right here in this district.” Rasmussen gave insight to why she is against expanding Medicaid: “We are being asked to take on something that the federal government has not honored for a very long time and the health services are in a very bad state, they are closing their hospitals,” Rasmussen said. “They haven’t taken care of the people that they should have been taking care of in the first place — this is a third way agreement and I think that is always tricky.” According to Pease, she knows what it is like to live without insurance. Her husband, a teacher, lost his job three years ago and started his own business. Pease worked part time jobs and in-between Pease and her husband didn’t have health coverage for three years. “I know what it is like to go to the free clinic [and] I know that this is a serious issue,” Pease said. “But, I have concerns when we take money from the federal government, there are strings attached. Not to mention that our federal government is $20 trillion in debt and we keep growing it.” After talk about Medicaid, the question about the death penalty was asked and if any of the candidates would support it or not. Rusch explained that he rejects See DEBATE, Page A3
Devin Martin I The Volante
Local candidates for the South Daktoa House of Representatives
and Senate spoke Tuesday evening at Vermillion City Hall during a town hall meeting about a range of issues.