The original headline accompanying this article contained an error and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for more information.
A symposium about military sexual assault will be held at UCLA Thursday by the Bixby Center on Population and Reproductive Health, an organization that primarily focuses on reproductive health issues in developing countries.
The goal of the event is to address problems relating to sexual assault in the military, including obstacles survivors of sexual assault may encounter during the reporting process. The symposium will consist of three separate panels and a Q&A; portion.
University media coverage on sexual assault over the past year and the push it has created for reform prompted the center to hold a symposium about military sexual assault, said Paula Tavrow, the director of the Bixby Program on Population and Reproductive Health.
Tavrow said she saw a lot of parallels between how sexual assault was being handled on college campuses and how it is addressed in the military. She said she sees problems in both processes of reporting and responding to cases of sexual assault.
“Here are these people serving our country, putting themselves in harms way, having to deal with sexual assault within their own military,” Tavrow said. “If (assault) happens, the person assaulted shouldn’t have to worry about stigmatization and retaliation from their peers for reporting it.”
On Thursday, each panelist will talk about a different topic related to sexual assault, such as recovery and reporting processes for sexual assault survivors and problems with reforming laws related to military sexual assault.
Janell Moore, a Bixby Program assistant, said she and Tavrow have been actively working on planing the symposium for about three months.
The Bixby Center on Population and Reproductive Health addresses male and female reproductive health concerns, Moore said. Though Moore said she and Tavrow could not find a male survivor for the symposium, she said she thinks this issue affects men serving in the military as much as it does women.
Some of the panelists at the event are experts in reproductive health, former military personnel and researchers in the field of sexual assault.
Kristen Zaleski, a licensed clinical social worker and one of the panelists, said she will give an opening and closing statement at the symposium. Zaleski said she plans to open with a history about sexual violence in the world and possible reasons for sexual assault in the military.
“One of my missions in life is to have sexual violence recognized on a public level,” she said.
During the Q&A; portion of the event the audience will be able to ask panelists about the topics they discussed and anything relating to the symposium’s topic.
Correction: The Bixby Center will hold the symposium.