For Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a workshop and presentation titled “Sexual Assault Awareness Month: Education as Prevention Workshop” were given on April 3, 2025. This event was led by previous Winona State University graduate Hunter Beckstrom. Beckstrom was able to present this workshop with the support and help of Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA) and the Advocacy Center of Winona (ACW), who have worked with Winona State to provide care to Winona State students through the OASIS Advocacy Center.
The workshop focused heavily on answering several questions: what rape culture is, how behaviors, attitudes, and norms can contribute to violence and how to take collective action to alleviate issues around sexual violence. Beckstrom helped participants by giving definition of terms like sexual violence and rape culture. He helped participants to understand how those topics are connected to wider issues that involve systems of oppression, with how multiple marginalized identities are uniquely impacted, and how they are normalized in popular culture.
Sexual assault and sexual violence are important to talk about on all college campuses. According to National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), “one in four undergraduate women experienced sexual assault or misconduct at 33 of the nation’s major universities.” In relation to Winona State, that rate compared to a student enrollment of 6,072 students, with 69.2% being female, would average that about 1,000 female students have encountered some sort of sexual violence. These statistics can show how resources for sexual assault and violence are integral to the safety of Winona State students.
Temki Newell, a third-year student who attended the workshop, was already familiar with the topics discussed in the presentation, but they still were grateful that it had helpful insight and introduced the topics of sexual violence and rape culture to others. They also highlighted how important it is to have resources for sexual violence on campus, and that those resources are especially important with the recent funding cuts to Winona State’s OASIS center.
“Even for those who haven’t experienced sexual violence, understanding the roots of it and steps to prevent it are crucial in making campus a safe place.” Newell said. “I feel that information regarding resources for sexual violence should be easier to find, more readily available, and that there can always be more support put into these resources.”
The OASIS Advocacy Center has been a resource for students to engage with confidential advocates, get information for campus and community resources, and get referral to support issues that involve sexual violence, domestic violence, and other forms of sexual harassment. The OASIS Center is supported through the Office of Equity and Inclusive Excellence and gets its services through a funded contract with the ACW to connect and support students with their helpful resources.
On April 1, 2025, the Sexual Violence Advisory Committee, who worked with the OASIS Center as a part of a contract with the ACW, had their funding cut as a part of budget cuts happening at Winona State. When this cut takes effect, the OASIS Center would close, and students would lose important resources for support when experiencing sexual violence.
Karina Kpahn, a fourth-year student and the president of WSU Students for Reproductive Justice, highlighted how integral the OASIS Center and that losing the contract with the ACW is concerning for the future of sexual violence support on Winona State’s campus.
“Without this resource, the university will be bringing their students and faculty back to a time without this support net, without a confidential advocate who could help them through all of their options, without someone at the university advocating for them in Title IX meetings, etc etc.” said Kpahn. “This decision will only harm victims and survivors on campus.”
To get engaged during Sexual Assault Awareness Month, students can follow the WSU Students for Reproductive Justice Club’s Instagram: @wsu_reprojuctice. The WSU Students for Reproductive Justice Club will be hosing several events during April, including a Sex Ed Trivia Night that will be held in the KEAP Center on April 15. Also, on April 30, their annual Take Back the Night will be held at the Gazebo where the club collaborates with ACW where students are able to heal with each other and end the event by marching around campus with signs and chants so that students are able to take back the night.
