Borgia Hosts Forum on Sexual Assaults on College Campuses

August 4, 2015 Examiner Media

By Robert Montague – Westchester County Legislator Catherine Borgia (D/Ossining) teamed up with invited guests and college officials in Valhalla last week to discuss sexual assault and ways of preventing it.

“It’s an opportunity to hear people’s voices about this topic,” Borgia said at the speak-out forum at Westchester Community College.

Borgia, majority leader on the county Board of Legislators, believes nothing in society changes unless people talk about it. Groups such as The Westchester National Organization for women (Westchester NOW), Hope’s Door, My Sisters’ Place, Planned Parenthood Hudson-Peconic and more were in attendance.

Discussion opened up when the microphone began getting passed around the room. People spoke of different topics from personal experience and opinions to new ways of preventing assault.

Lisa Hofflich, president of Westchester NOW, spoke about reducing the number of sexual assaults. She believes that young men need to be approached before they go to college to prevent them from acting in the future.

Hofflich believes a big part of the issue is that men are not being taught to give women respect. “Men won’t go out and hurt someone if they believe they deserve the same amount of respect as them,” Hofflich said.

Gabby Ibacache, community educator for My Sisters’ Place, a domestic violence agency in Westchester County spoke about the idea of consent. She believes that stressing affirmative consent is important in educating young people.

“Anything less than a yes is not good enough,” Ibacache stressed.

Borgia said she was enthusiastic about the forum because it gave people the ability to speak about sexual assault without repercussion.

“Campus should not be a place of fear,” Borgia remarked.