CAMPUS: TAMIU promotes consent in a fun way

By Celeste Aimee Rodriguez
Bridge Contributing Writer
Published Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024

With an intent to provide information and resources regarding student safety, the University Compliance office offered a variety of Consent Week events.

Director of Title IX and Civil Rights Compliance Lorissa Cortez invited school organizations to participate in Consent Week at Texas A&M International University to help promote healthy relationships. Navigating relationships safely is one of the core focuses of the week-long event offered each semester.

Cortez also serves as the Title IX coordinator and themed Consent Week like a high school pep rally.

“We want to be more approachable so we always say that we deal with very serious topics, but prevention can be fun,” Cortez said with a smile.

On Sept. 30, the Team Consent Pep Rally occurred at the Student Center. For the first time, organizations such as Psychology Organization, Dance and Performance Workshop, ROTC and more, were invited to set up booths to promote their groups and their takes on consent, as students, and what they can do regarding student safety.

“[Our goal was to teach others] how to set boundaries, how to decide when to set boundaries,” Psychology Organization Public Relations and Secretary Alyssia Tadic said. “You can’t assume what somebody else is thinking or feeling. The best way to know for sure is to ask, as scary as that might sound.”

Elijah Flores, the organization’s treasurer, said the group plans to continue participating in future consent weeks.

“The committee was established last year with the Student Government Association,” Title IX and Civil Rights Compliance representative Ashley Gonzales said.

Despite being relatively new, the goal is to make the event known as a resource and support system for students, not to recruit members. This is the first event they participated in and they plan to participate more.

On Oct. 1, the Consent Cab event involved a golf cart driven around campus by Title IX to interview students who would receive a goodie bag at the end of a game of questions.

“I had some [students] on this last cab say, ‘I’ve always wanted to be on it,’” Cortez said.

In prior years, the Consent Cab had themes such as Inside Out, Barbie and, this time, sports.

On Oct. 2 at the Student Center, the University Police Department and Rec Sports teamed up to offer a Play-It-Safe event. This offered a new way for students to interact with UPD; they were invited to play sports with law enforcement officers as a way to gain rapport. This also allowed students to know that it is OK to approach others for help; this allowed them a chance to find a trusted individual.

On Oct. 3, a Green Dot Training occurred. This bystander intervention program teaches students and staff to recognize unhealthy and dangerous behaviors. It also gives them the tools to intervene safely in such situations that would hopefully help someone have the confidence to take action if needed.

With a consistent turnout of around 100 to 120 people this year, many of them freshmen, Consent Week offers information that can help improve the livelihoods of more people than just those who attend. The event is held twice a year around October and February and has existed since 2017; though its name changed from Relationships Week to Consent week two years ago, the goals of health and safety have not changed.

Cortez wishes for Consent Week to become a convention using the theme of superheroes in the upcoming years with the hope that enough people will attend to help make it a possibility, which would then further promote the event’s topic.