Amy Zsohar’s Interpersonal Communication classes present virtually during Sex Week
Amy Zsohar, communication studies faculty at Inver Hills Community College, reported that two sections of her Interpersonal Communication course partnered with the Center for Career Development and Community-Based Learning (CCD+CBL), Student Life, and the Counseling & Advising department to focus their learning experience through the lens of domestic violence, sexual assault, and healthy relationships. Today’s Inver Hills News post will spotlight projects on domestic violence.
“My students attended an advocacy training session led by Nicki Bottko Woods, student life associate director, and Jenni Yamada, student life activities coordinator, ” Amy said. “They spent a day learning about the impact of toxic masculinity on intersectional identities from Kyle Tran Myhre, better known as Guante.”
Amy added that her students studied the presence of sexual assault and domestic violence in popular culture. On Student Success Day during spring semester 2020, a number of her students hosted a table in the Fine Arts lobby, collecting almost 100 signatures from Inver Hills campus community members making a commitment to fight sexual assault and domestic violence in concert with the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA).
“The students researched topics with the goal to help educate the Inver Hills student population,” Amy said. “The original assignment involved presenting brief lessons in The Lounge in the College Center during Sex Week at Inver Hills, April 27 through April 30. Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit and Minnesota’s governor issued a stay-at-home order, the students quickly rose to the challenge of adapting their projects to a more technology-based model.”
Student projects varied in format from infographics, PowerPoints, videos, websites, podcasts and traditional academic papers; they worked alone, in pairs or small groups. The assignment asked students to consider the following questions as they developed their projects:
- What is the definition of your topic?
- Why did you choose this topic?
- Who does this topic impact?
- What does the general community need to know about your topic?
“Each and every project shows the passion and importance of talking about difficult topics such as sexual assault and domestic violence,” Amy said. “Starting on the very first day of class, survivors and victims felt empowered to share their stories with me, with their classmates, and in some cases, through this assignment.”
Student Success Day spring 2020 gallery
If you are experiencing violence, the following resources are available on campus:
Inver Hills Counseling & Advising
Make a Zoom appointment via phone: 651-450-3508
Web page: Counseling & Advising
Email: counseling@inverhills.eduInver Hills Health Service
Phone: 651-450-3525
Web page: Health Service
Email: askanurse@inverhills.eduSexual Violence Prevention
Inver Hills Community College is committed to creating a campus environment that is free of sexual violence. Sexual violence is not tolerated at Inver Hills and it takes reports about sexual violence seriously.
LEARN MORE…
More resources…
- Minnesota Day One Crisis Hotline: 866-223-1111
- 360 Communities (Dakota County): 651-405-1500
- The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline: 800-422-4453
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233
- National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN): 800-656-HOPE (4673)
- National Resource Center on Domestic Violence
- Rise: Domestic and sexual violence linked to COVID-19 pandemic: SURVIVOR SAFE HAVEN
Domestic Violence
Student projects
Children & Exposure to Domestic Violence
by Matthew Wilker & Yvette Astar
Domestic Violence
by Parker Aman & Alex Walker
Domestic Violence
by Luis Erazo
One hard topic we as humans tend to ignore is domestic violence. It is a very touchy subject that most people would like to look away from. We are all exposed to some kind of violence from a young age from people we may know like friends, family or neighbors. Even right in our homes with our television, computer, cell phones.
However, my first exposure to domestic violence came to me at a young age. When I use to live in an apartment complex, I use to hear our neighbors scream and yell through the walls. Sometimes I could hear objects being thrown and hitting the walls or they’d hit each other. It got to the point where even the police were called in and they had to intervene. I told myself that I would never use violence to solve anything or end up an abuser.
READ MORE…
Domestic Violence — Blog
by Zuhayr Khan
I chose domestic violence as my topic for this project because it was something that I didn’t know much about, although I heard the term many times before. In addition, I wanted to be more aware of domestic violence as it’s quite common and to be able to recognize it when it occurs and learn how to deal with it. Domestic violence is defined by the World Health Organization as, “violence emanating from the household and within relationships defined by familial or emotional (former or present) attachment” (Han 7).
This topic impacts everyone in a relationship within the household (particularly men and women), however, the majority of domestic violence cases are reported by women. In fact, “one in three women have suffered physical and/or sexual violence at some point in their lives”, which shows you that there’s a good chance that you have met a woman that has faced domestic violence, and remember these statistics are based only on what’s actually reported, there could potentially be many more that are unreported (de Oliveira 103).
READ MORE…
Marital Rape
(slide show)
by Tessa Inman
HEALING from domestic violence and the effects on children
by Allison Holmstadt, Lauren Fleischhacker, Rachel Nilsen, Summer Pierick
Appearing on Inver Hills News Wednesday, April 29, 2020: Students Research Sexual Assault
Appearing on Inver Hills News Thursday, April 30, 2020: Students Research Healthy Relationships
Learn more about Communication Studies at Inver Hills by contacting:
Shiloh Gideon-Sjostrom
Communication Studies Faculty
651-450-3658
Amy Zsohar, PhD
Communication Studies and Interdisciplinary Faculty
LGBT+ Club Sponsor
651-450-3659
