By Danny Goldman

Although a Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Seminar was open to both faculty and students Wednesday in the Curry Student Center, only faculty members were in attendance.

Speakers included Melanie Kapikian, sergeant detective of public safety and Laura Weiss, Northeastern’s sexual assault coordinator. The seminar included information about the sexual assault and rape resources available to victims at Northeastern.

The seminar attempted to show those attending “how to be a resource for someone else,” Weiss said. She recommended various organizations that are available to help, such as the center for counseling on campus. However, not all victims of sexual assault or rape find it so easy to seek help, she said.

“Fear of not being believed, not being supported by parents and friends” keeps them from getting help, Kapikian said. This is clearly visible in the statistic that “95 percent of sexual assaults on college campuses are not reported,” she said. However, “Rape instances on our campus are rare,” she said.

“Confidentiality is an issue” for the victims and they also have a “fear of being judged,” Weiss said.

Though some victims have a fear of being exposed as a victim of sexual assualt, Kapikian said victim’s names are kept confidential.

“When someone comes forward, we protect their name and identity,” Kapikian said.

The Counseling Center gives the victims of sexual assault knowledge of what choices they have.

“We take care of their emotional and physical well being and medical care,” Kapikian said.

Kapikian said Northeastern is very safe and has a number of systems in place to protect the student body. This includes the campus escort service and the Community Receptionist (CR) swipe-ins in most residence halls. On other campuses, anyone could enter a residence hall and roam through the halls, she said.

She also recommended the Rape Aggression Defense (R.A.D.) course offered by NUPD, which attempts to teach young women how to protect themselves from rape and sexual assault.

More information is available about sexual assault and rape at the Northeastern University Public Safety Web site at www.publicsafety.-neu.edu.

Weiss said she hopes those faculty members who did attend will show others “what resources are available when something happens.”