Sexual assault on universities campuses across BC is a real and pressing issue, and the athletes of the SFU Clan are doing their part to put a stop to it by collaborating on a video discussing the topic. The video was put together by the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), a group consisting of representatives from all SFU varsity teams, including the football, basketball, volleyball, and track and field teams.
“All NCAA schools are required to have a campus SAAC,” explained Ryan Yewchin, one of the representatives for the Men’s Wrestling team, as well as the representative for the GNAC conference at the NCAA Division II level. “SAAC provides a way for student athlete engagement and acts as a liaison between student athletes and administration at the institutional, conference, and national levels of the NCAA,” Ryan said.
The video is part of a larger, top-down initiative by numerous Division II schools, as part of the US White House’s “It’s on us” initiative. It features athletes from various SFU athletic teams describing why consent matters to them, indicated by a written card.
“As a member of national SAAC it’s one of my responsibilities to ensure initiatives at the National level are communicated to and acted on by SFU and the GNAC as a whole,” said Yewchin. “On a personal level, I am very motivated to address and engage with topics surrounding sexual assault and interpersonal violence. Being able to speak publicly and work with Health and Counselling to engage and dismantle rape culture is a powerful opportunity.”
“I want people to know about consent, and be aware that it does matter.”
– Helen Yan, Volleyball Player
“It’s always been an important issue, just morally and ethically speaking,” explained Helen Yan. She is one of the representatives of the Volleyball team, and is featured in the video. “I think it’s important to show, especially from both female and male points of views, why it’s important to each person individually. It’s not something that people like to talk about typically, but people need to talk about it. It has to be put out there publicly, that it’s not OK without consent.
“I grew up in a predominantly female household,” Yan continued. “My dad had to work somewhere else, and I had a lot of friends who had gone through issues with consent. But when I was younger we didn’t know any better. But now that I’m older, looking back I realised people should have probably helped [those friends] — they should have talked to someone. So now, growing up and reflecting on the past, I want people to know about consent, and be aware that it does matter.”
The video was made with the assistance of SFU Athletics, who helped in the production aspects. The two organizations worked in tandem to insure that the message came across in a powerful way.
“Vital work for both the video and the Consent Matters campaign as a whole was also done by Rebecca Langmead, a former basketball player now working in health and counselling,” elaborated Yewchin. “Steve Frost, our sports information director, and Gabe Lynn were also fantastic to work with from the production aspects of the video,” he continued.
As of publication time, the video has over 1100 views in over a week on YouTube. Ryan attributes the success of the video to the way the message was delivered, as well as the production quality of the video.
“The reception to the video has been overwhelming positive,” said Yewchin. “Gabe Lynn did a phenomenal job filming and editing the video. It does a great job allowing the student athletes in the video to express why dealing with sexual assault matters to them. Seeing my friends and teammates have the courage to show why this is such a personal topic is extremely powerful.”
You can get involved with the #ConsentMattersSFU campaign by visiting their information booths at the Burnaby campus on 20th, and 27th, and Surrey Campus on the 26th, or by sharing your answer to “Why does consent matter to you?” on social media using the hashtag. Members of the community are encouraged to familiarize themselves with SFU’s sexual assault website: www.sfu.ca/sexual-assault.
