Welisch is one of the many student voices that will be featured in a “town hall” event to discuss community actions and institutional changes to protect students from sexual violence hosted by Time’s Up Cal Poly. The event will be held March 7 in Phillips Hall at 7 p.m.
This event was created because Time’s Up Cal Poly believes that administration is not upholding students’ right to exist safely and freely in a learning environment. In response to this lack of change, students say “time’s up, Cal Poly.”
President Jeffrey Armstrong, Vice President for Student Affairs Keith Humphrey and Associate Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Kathleen McMahon declined to speak at the event. McMahon will be in attendance, but Armstrong and Humphrey are unable to attend according to university spokesperson Matt Lazier.
“It’s so important just for educational purposes to have an event like this,” psychology freshman Holly Davis said. “This is so important to be talking about.”
Time’s Up Cal Poly is a group inspired by the recent #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, and they are dedicated to ending sexual violence.
Survivors are welcome to share and submit their stories to be told anonymously for the event. Some student survivors will personally tell their stories at the gathering.
According to the coalition, the goal of the Town Hall is to get the attention of those in authority at Cal Poly and guarantee they address the injustices facing students regarding gender-based violence. Time’s Up Cal Poly discussed the need for culture to change in our university’s leadership, and said they don’t think that President Armstrong is working with them.
Humphrey said sexual assault is not only an issue at Cal Poly but at every college campus.
“We have students that are experimenting with alcohol, testing boundaries, and in many cases making bad decisions about how they treat others that create conditions for a sexual assault to occur. From my perspective we have a problem with sexual assault at Cal Poly until the day comes that we have no sexual assault on campus,” Humphrey said.
#TimesUp Cal Poly wants students to know that this event is open to everyone, and encourage people to come in with an open mind.