Haven for dialogue -

Program is useful tool in combating sexual abuse

The Haven program should be commended for its role in educating our community about issues surrounding sexual assault.

The program, operated by the Carolina Women’s Center, the Office of the Dean of Students and the Duke University Women’s Center, strives to provide information about sexual assault to students, faculty and staff.

Programs like Haven are very important on campus because issues such as what makes a relationship abusive and how to deal with a sexual assault are sensitive subjects, and may be hard to discuss if not for a comfortable, positive environment.

An inspiration for Haven is UNC’s Safe Zone program, which has been very successful in helping lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students make connections .

These interactions allow for discussion of these sensitive issues, which allows for a greater understanding among everyone in the UNC community.

Increased knowledge about the forces behind abusive relationships may help to prevent them.

Haven sessions have been very popular, with wait-lists sometimes 40 people long. And they are not just for women. Sometimes up to one-third of the participants are male.

This demonstrates that the Haven program benefits the whole community and allows a wide variety of people to get involved in these issues.

With the existence of such a program on campus, students, faculty and staff should be encouraged to attend Haven meetings in order to deal with issues surrounding sexual assault and abuse.

These sessions only occur a couple times a semester, so it is recommended for those with interest to sign up soon.

With the assistance of the Haven program, it might be possible to put an end to sexual assaults in our community.