The center currently provides support and assistance to students who have been affected by sexual violence of any kind, said Janet Epstein, associate director of the Advocacy Center. Along with the name change, the center will add services and educational activities related to relationship violence, she said.

There has been an increase in the number of students visiting the center with concerns about abusive relationships, Epstein said. Syracuse University and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry students can go to the center for support and connections to other services and options, she said.

‘We want to provide support and assistance for all students who have been impacted by sexual or relationship violence,’ Epstein said. ‘We want to work towards prevention of it.’

When proposing the idea of a name change for the center, Epstein said, she found everybody she spoke to agreed the R.A.P.E. Center name needed to change.

‘It’s a harsh word,’ Epstein said. ‘When you say R.A.P.E. Center, a lot of people think that they have to have been raped to come here. We do feel that has been a barrier for some people.’

The R.A.P.E. acronym stood for ‘Rape: advocacy, prevention and education.’ The new name still incorporates the center’s goals and function but seems easier and more commonplace to say, said Sam Myers, a junior exercise science major and volunteer with the center, in an email.

Myers was involved in a few brainstorming sessions for the new name. She said it was challenging to find a simple and catchy name that also encompassed the variety of services and programming offered at the center.

The Advocacy Center does not provide therapy, Epstein said. Students meet with advocates, not counselors, and everything they say is confidential. Meetings at the center are driven by what the student identifies as his or her need, she said.

‘If it’s helpful to them, we’re here to listen, and there might be some questions that we ask to help them identify what they might want to do next and what their options are,’ she said.

The center provides 24-hour assistance. SU faculty members involved are confidential and provide assistance after regular hours, Epstein said. The center is currently recruiting for more advocates and will begin an intensive training program in September, she said.

About 70 student volunteers help the center with prevention programming and outreach, Epstein said. Though student volunteers do not provide telephone support or direct service, they let students know of the center’s services and are involved in various groups affiliated with the center, she said.

The work of student volunteers working together for a common cause under the direction of the Advocacy Center is an ‘awe-provoking sight,’ said Sacchi Patel, SU alumnus and former R.A.P.E. Center graduate assistant, in an email.

Patel said he was inspired to work with the center and violence prevention programs during his involvement with A Men’s Issue, a program that aims to encourage leadership among men who wish to promote an environment free of sexual violence. He was also instrumental in brainstorming ideas for the center’s new name and said it provides an atmosphere that is warm and welcoming.

‘Getting involved was undoubtedly the best decision I made during my time at Syracuse,’ Patel said. ‘It made my entire college and graduate career worthwhile.’

Epstein said a goal of the center and its volunteers is to open up conversation with students about their own personal power to make a difference in difficult situations. The Advocacy Center and its affiliated groups encourage students to become empowered bystanders, she said.

Said Epstein: ‘If people think ahead about those issues and what their beliefs are, and they feel powered to action, they’re more likely to act when something happens.’

brvannos@syr.edu