The panel discussion was held Thursday night in Cudahy Hall by Empowerment, a feminist student organization that focuses on gender equality and sexual violence.,”About one out of four females on a college campus is a victim of sexual assault at some point, according to an English professor speaking at a discussion about rape culture and the university setting.

The panel discussion was held Thursday night in Cudahy Hall by Empowerment, a feminist student organization that focuses on gender equality and sexual violence.

The event covered a variety of issues, including how rape is viewed and sometimes downplayed on college campuses and Marquette's response to sexual violence prevention and awareness. After showing a short YouTube video about sexual harassment on college campuses, four panelists spoke for about five minutes each. The discussion was then directed to the audience for the remainder of the time.

Amelia Zurcher, associate professor of English, said rape culture is an environment where sexual assault is prevalent and pervasive. After speaking about different rape myths and how to avoid them, Zurcher said students should exercise their power to help improve Marquette's sexual assault policies.

"Sexual assault is a learned behavior, and as a culture we can unlearn it," Zurcher said.

Ali Fagnan, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences who attended the discussion, said she feels the word "rape" has been trivialized by everyday use. She said students have developed false meanings for the word by using it casually in phrases such as "That exam raped me!"

Bridgette Hensley, psychologist at the Counseling Center, said the university needs a better and more thorough sexual assault policy. She said the current policy only covers about three-fourths of a page in the student handbook.

Chris Daood, assistant director at the Counseling Center, spoke about risk reduction for women and different goals and types of sexual violence prevention. He said the biggest risk of becoming a victim occurs during a female's first six weeks of college.

Desiree Valentine, a sophomore in the College of Communication and student peer educator of Violence Opposition in Community Education, a volunteer organization focused on sexual violence education, said people should focus on how to keep men from raping rather than simply telling women how to avoid such men. She said both males and females are "all allies in this fight against rape."

More than 80 people from the Marquette community attended the discussion. Caitlin Madden, co-chair of Empowerment and a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, coordinated the event. Madden said she was thrilled with the turnout because her personal goal was to have 30 people in attendance.

Madden said Empowerment held the event because major problems with sexual violence are not addressed. She said it is important for students to know what is going on and to see what the university can and should be doing about the issues.

Kevin Nieves, a freshman in the College of Arts & Sciences, said the discussion was eye-opening, and that the university seems ignorant about the issue because it tends to put more importance on other issues such as alcohol-related problems.

But some students who did not attend the discussion did not take the issues seriously, as Madden displayed fliers for the event that were vandalized around campus with drawings and written sexual remarks.

"The fact that people can vandalize the fliers emphasizes the problem by showing that it's an appropriate joke to make that rape is funny," Madden said.

The vandalized fliers included a controversial advertisement that implied a gang rape setting, on which comments such as "what MU girls want" were written next to the image.

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