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Coalition Defines Semester's Plans

After a quiet first semester of internal discussion, the Coalition Against Sexual Violence (CASV) is once again attempting to enter the public eye.

With a new, colorful poster campaign featuring messages such as "90% of All Rapes Are Never Reported" and "Rape Still Happens at Harvard" and other public actions, the group hopes to increase awareness of sexual violence and improve women's resources on the Harvard campus.

After last spring, when the group sponsored its annual "Take Back the Night" (TBTN) week, fought for increased training for Sexual Assault Sexual Harassment (SASH) counselors, and participated in a rally outside of a Faculty meeting, CASV has been much quieter this year.

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"We want the dialogue to keep going," said Kaitlin McGaw '00, the coalition's co-chair. "We don't want the silence to come back on campus."

McGaw said a major goal of the group for the semester is developing a "progressive education program" to replace Peer Relations and Date Rape Education (PRDRE), the student-run presentation on sexual violence currently given during first-year orientation.

McGaw said PRDRE, which takes place in auditoriums of 500 first-years, does not go into enough depth to change behavior and attitudes about gender.

"Other organizations in Boston that work to educate youth about sexual violence target gender roles as a way to affect change for perceptions and gender relations," McGaw wrote in an e-mail message.

The program Harvard favors does not devote enough time or a personalized setting for students, she added.

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