By Celina Dietzel

Knox College welcomed speaker Dr. Alan Berkowitz to campus Oct 24 and 25 to present an assortment of workshops on sexual assault prevention that addressed students' responsibility in confronting negative behaviors and encouraging positive ones.

Berkowitz is an award-winning author, scholar, and researcher and has published numerous books on preventing gender violence.

Knox Title IX coordinator Kim Schroeder opened up the second workshop Promoting Consent, Preventing Coercion: What We Can Do to Prevent Sexual Assault with a reminder of the importance of these conversations.

"At the end of the day, you [the students] are the ones influencing our culture at Knox," she said.

At this workshop, Berkowitz described the components of a healthy relationship and the role of consent.

"If we teach people consent, they'll have happier, healthier relationships," he said.

Marilyn Barnes '17 attended the workshop and appreciated Berkowitz's emphasis on peer responsibility.

"I loved the point he made about teaching others how to speak up," she said.

At the workshop, Berkowitz also opened up the floor to students to share how they've intervened in the past to help a friend.

"It was great to hear the stories of others who have prevented something from happening at a party, the club, and even on the street," Barnes said. "I still need to inform myself more on how to encourage others to stand up for these issues, but now I am more confident in doing so."

Berkowitz reminded students that they always have the ability to take action.

"We don't have to teach you to have good values, we have to teach you to act on those good values," he said.

Berkowitz travels to colleges, universities, public health, and military organizations to speak about health and social justice issues.