English: Part 1 of Green River College's "Personal Safety Against Violence" information video series on sexual assault and rape on campus and other student settings.

Transcript:

In order to create the safest possible environment for students at Green River Community College, it's important that each of us understands the law, and though it can seem overwhelming, it's really not that complicated. According to Washington state law, anyone having sex with someone without their consent has committed rape, a felony crime that has a mandatory prison sentence. Anyone touching someone sexually without their consent has potentially committed the crime of indecent liberties. A person cannot give consent if they are mentally disabled or incapacitated, physically helpless for any reason, including alcohol or drug intoxication, overcome by deception, coercion or surprise.

Consent is about saying “yes” and must be given directly. “No” absolutely means no. However, not saying “no” is not the same as giving consent. It is important to understand that consent is about saying "yes.” “Yes” means yes.

In addition to these two, there are laws relating to other forms of personal violence, such as partner violence and stalking. The bottom line is that Federal and State laws are there to help you and understanding them are powerful tools in ensuring your personal safety.

In addition to knowing about the law and possible criminal consequences, it's important to understand we must hold students accountable under our disciplinary processes, which operate separately and independently from the criminal justice system. Students found in violation risk disciplinary action. Even if a student is not convicted of a crime, he or she may still be disciplined by the College.

Another important distinction to understand is that the federal government expects institutions of higher education to adjudicate sexual misconduct cases under the "preponderance of evidence" standard and not the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard you might be familiar with from the criminal process. I know all of this is complicated. It's all described in our College policies, and if you have questions, please let us know and we'll answer them or point you in the right direction.

As the Vice President of Student Affairs, I am also the Title IX Coordinator for students. If you experience stalking, sexual harassment, relationship violence, or sexual violence at Green River from another student, from a faculty member, from a staff member, or from anyone on or off-campus, you should contact me in Student Affairs or Campus Safety.

Also, if you have experienced sexual or other personal violence OFF campus, we are here for you. We want to know about any incidence of sexual misconduct that occurs on or related to our campus community. If you have a restraining order or protection order you can bring in a copy for us to assist in maximizing your safety. Even if you are just wondering if something is serious enough to report, you should contact us to find out what your options are. The Green River policies are designed to protect you and your educational experience.

Credits:

'Personal Safety Against Violence' is derived from 'Personal Empowerment Through Self-Awareness', an original series created by the University of Montana. These videos are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US

'Personal Safety Against Violence' web site: http://greenriver.edu/psav 'Personal Empowerment Through Self-Awareness' web site: https://www.umt.edu/petsa/videos/default.php

(Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20180308025553/https://www.umt.edu/petsa/videos/default.php)